Harry Potter and the Valeru
by Lady Urquentha
Summary: On his birthday, Harry is whisked away to another plane of reality. Follow his life as a sixteen-year-old, as he finds love, makes friends and battles against the Dark side. Discontinued
1. Chapter 1 The Birthday

**Chapter 1 – The Birthday**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past. Any resemblance to real events or places is entirely accidental.

Chapter 1

It was a dark, dreary night, and the rain was pounding on the window. The full moon was hidden by the dark storm clouds that covered the night sky, and poured their unrelenting tears of anger down upon the earth. It had been raining for hours, as though in tune with the mood of a young boy nearby. In Number 4 Privet Drive, the smallest bedroom on the second floor, a scrawny boy who looked to be about age 14, was lying on his bed, an old leather book open before him, with a piece of parchment atop another book and quill between his teeth. It was July 30th, 11:55 pm, and Harry James Potter was doing his homework while waiting for midnight, when he would be turning 16.

His normally messy hair had grown longer, as it hadn't been cut in a while. His emerald eyes were dull and lifeless, a side-effect of the last year's stress, his subsequent imprisonment in the Dursleys and the dreams of Voldemort he had every night. He wore old, baggy hand-me-downs from Dudley, and he was extremely skinny. His appetite had gone down since he returned to Privet Drive, as he was doing much exercise, and the lightning scar on his forehead was very dark, and bled often during the dark hours of night. It showed up very easily against his pale skin. He often awoke after only a few hours of sleep, and now spent most nights lying awake in bed. Staring out the window for hours on end into the darkness lost its appeal after the first couple of nights, it got very boring, especially as Privet Drive was not a very exciting place to be even during the day. So he'd turned to reading to keep him occupied, and he'd managed to read and memorize all his books from first through to fourth year, and was amazed at how much easier everything seemed now that he understood the basics. He was even beginning to understand why Hermione loved reading so much, when you took the time to try to understand it, it was very rewarding. Harry's knowledge of spells and curses had almost doubled from re-reading his books, and he was annoyed at himself, if he'd read these earlier he would have had a far wider choice of spells for the duels he kept landing in each year.

Harry sighed and rolled his neck, he was on his final essay, his Potions one, it was on truth potions, and was to be concentrated on Veritiseum. Even though they'd just had exams at the end of last year, they'd still been given homework. Harry was finding the homework a lot easier then he had in the past, and devoutly wished he'd done read all these books before, as he had a sinking feeling that he hadn't done very well on his O.W.L.S, especially his Astronomy and History of Magic. He'd even read his Divination books, although that didn't help him much, and Harry still thought he'd only get a P at best for that one even now.

Harry's scar gave a sharp pain, and he clapped a hand to it. Voldermort was feeling angry about something, and Harry wasn't looking forward to going to sleep, knowing he'd be observing whatever punishment the Death Eaters would receive. Each night since he left Hogwarts, he'd had very little sleep, and what he did have was filled with visions of Voldermort and the Death Eaters or Sirius's death. Vernon, after the first two nights, had reluctantly paid for large boards of cork, which were placed against the wall to keep the sound it. Cork was very good at insulating sound, and it was comparatively cheap. Vernon didn't dare hit Harry or risk being on the receiving end of some curse from the Order of the Phoenix members. Harry's changes in appearance didn't help things with his family much. To Vernon, Harry's lifeless eyes looked like Harry could have killed a person without so much a blinking an eye.

Dudley hadn't dared speak or even look at Harry at all; he was far too frightened of what might happen to him. While it was a welcome respite from being used as a punching bag, it was getting rather boring with no human contact at all, the only time Harry used his voice was when he was talking to Hedwig. He knew that Order members kept an eye on the house, he often heard whispered conversations outside hid window, or the sound of apparating as the shifts changed. Tonks seemed to be very often on duty, whether it was because she was new or because she wanted to, Harry wasn't quite sure. But from the discussions he'd overheard, it seemed to be a little bit of both. As the newest member, she had to take on jobs that weren't quite so dangerous, and she also seemed to genuinely like him.

He looked up sharply as he heard pecking on the window. He saw ten drenched owls struggling to remain flying. He leaped to the window and shoved it open. The owls tumbled in, dripping water all over the floor. One by one, they fluttered to land on bed posts, desks and bookshelves. The only one who didn't was Pig, who was flapping around Harry's head, dropping water on the bedspread. Harry winced, Aunt Petunia would _not_ be happy about this. Pushing the problem aside for the moment, he took the parcel that Hedwig had brought him, and handed his owl an owl treat. He opened the envelope, to reveal a letter from Hermione inside.

_Dear Harry,_

_Happy Birthday! Your gift I got for you because we always seem to talk about it for one reason or another, and I thought you could finally read it and so I wouldn't have to explain it all the time._

_I hope your relatives are treating you well. Remember that if they are mistreating you, you just have to tell the Order, and they'll come around. And do remember the one owl per three days request, Dumbledore does want to know you are okay._

_Anyway, Harry, I'm going to the Burrow in a week's time, hopefully I'll see you there some time, if not we'll meet in Diagon Alley._

_Hermione_

_P.S how did you do in your O.W.Ls? I got 13 O.W.Ls!_

Harry grinned, as he opened the package. Of course she'd get top marks, an O.W.L per subject, and probably all Os as well. The gift she'd gotten him was 'Hogwarts; A History', Harry had known she'd get him a book, and of course it'd be one that wouldn't particularly help him a lot in the upcoming battle. Hermione was very good at buying books, they just didn't happen to be very interesting to Harry. Shaking his head in amusement, Harry put the book aside and caught Pigwidgeon, who was still flapping around. He opened the letter and unfolded it, to read;

_Dear Harry,_

_Hey, mate! How are you holding up? Are the Dursleys treating you all right? Mum says that if you need any food, clothes etc. just owl us and she'll send some over. Happy Birthday by the way, and I hope you like your gift. I think it'll come in handy, especially give your ability to get into fights and that sort of trouble. Don't feel sad about the Ministry thing, there was nothing you could do to stop it, Snuffles made his own choices, and he did it because he loved you._

_Ron_

_P.S. how did you do in your O.W.Ls? I got 8 of them, although I failed Divination and Astronomy, mum is really pleased._

_P.P.S. Dumbledore says you can't come over yet, don't know why though, but we'll see you in Diagon Alley._

Harry grinned, he didn't actually need more food or clothes, his relatives fed him enough, and he had all of Dudley's old stuff to wear, but it was a nice thought. The reminder about Snuffles was painful though, he still felt the guilt of luring his god-father to his death. Harry slowly opened Ron's package, and his eyes widened. Inside was a thick leather-bound book, which was surprising for Ron, as he didn't like books. After one glance at the title, Harry realised why Ron had bought it. It was titled 'Magical Duelling', and Harry had to admit he needed to learn how to duel properly. Harry flipped it open, and scanned the contents page. It looked interesting, and would come in handy, considering Harry's destiny to fight Voldermort.

The next owl Harry turned to was from Mrs Weasley, who had simply sent two birthday cakes, pumpkin pasties, and all his favourite foods from the Burrow, enough to feed an army for a year. Harry pounced on the pasties immediately, his supply had long since vanished, and he hungered for wizarding food. He crammed two into his mouth and sighed with delight, as he put the rest of the food away in his secret hiding place under the floorboard.

Harry turned the third package, which was very big. He opened the letter, and read;

_Dear silent benefactor,_

_Harry Birthday! Hopefully you're surviving at the Dursleys. Our gift is something we think you might like to have, in order to cause some er...havoc at your current residence. Be sure to give your cousin a Ton-tongue toffee from us._

_Gred and Forge Weasley_

Harry smirked, as he ripped open the package from the twins. In a brilliant red and gold box, adorned with engravings of Gryffindor lions, was a large array of pranking jokes and items. Canary creams, ton-tongue toffees, Skiving Snack boxes, fake wands, fireworks, coloured glue, coloured string, smoke cans were all packed densely among other items. Harry's eyes sparkled; this would be very useful to play with Dudley. He could toss a wand out, and cause the big cry-baby to scream and run, or leave out a canary cream and what for the inevitable change. Harry turned to the next package, which turned out to be from Remus.

_Dear Harry,_

_Happy Birthday!! I hope the Dursleys aren't treating you too badly; you can give us a shout if they do, and please remember to owl us every three days, to let us know you are alive. _

_I hope you aren't blaming yourself for Sirius's death. Sirius always hoped he die in battle; he said he wanted to go down fighting like a man. Sirius knew the risks when he left the house, but he still chose to do so. He knew he could die at any moment, but he still chose to join the fight, he wanted to help and he did. Saying that if you'd waited to think about it you should have known is complete rubbish, You-Know-Who would not have allowed you to; he was controlling your mind at that point. No-one could have known that Sirius was safe, unless you checked the house from top to bottom and inside out. You did what you thought you had to; you went to save a friend. I think that if Sirius had received the same dream, except about you, he would have gone without checking as well, so don't blame yourself._

_Your gift is something you may like to know, in light of the upcoming fight against You-Know-Who. There is no way you'll manage to stay out of it, so you may as well be prepared and know how to use the different things that may come in handy. I want you to study as hard as you can, be prepared for the fight. Sirius wouldn't have, but then, that's why you face You-Know-Who, not him._

_From,_

_Remus_

Harry sighed, guilt plaguing him once more at the mention of Sirius's name. His guilt was still fresh, he knew that there had to be _some_ way that he could have saved Sirius, he just hadn't thought about it. Harry picked up the package that had accompanied Remus's gift, and opened it. An old thick, leather bound book lay in his lap, titled 'Magical Aids' by Syberth Harlem. Harry flicked through it briefly, eyebrows rising. It might come in handy, if he knew about this stuff, but he wasn't quite sure how it would help him in battle. He shrugged, and turned to the next owl. Harry's next parcel was from his half-giant friend Hagrid.

_Harry,_

_Happy 16th Birthday! I found this in some old antique shop._

_Hagrid_

It was short and to the point, he was obviously doing something for Dumbledore or something, so he couldn't write much. Harry opened the gift that accompanied it, and found a long silver box. He opened it nervously; unsure of what could be inside. Inside lay a pair of daggers; the hilts was made of silver, with emeralds embedded in them, and the blades was made of some type of shadowy metal that seemed to avoid the light, and didn't seem to be quite there. The hilts both had a raised silver snake coiled around it. The silver sheathes had a number of runes engraved into it. Harry regarded them warily, not only were they weapons and Slytherin colors, the blades didn't seem quite right. Harry replaced the cover without touching them, he'd ask Hermione when he saw her next. Also in a white box, there was a large chocolate cake that looked similar to the one Harry had gotten from Hagrid in his first year. Harry was going to be careful about eating it, he'd had more then enough experiences with Hagrid's cooking skills before.

Harry turned to the next owl, and picked up the letter and parcel.

_Dear Harry,_

_Happy Birthday! We don't really know each other that well, we're in different grades and I'm your best friend's little sister. But I went with you to the Department of Mysteries, and I know what happened there. I'm rather worried frankly, I'm not one of your close friends, so I can see you more objectively then my brother or mother. I can tell that you're feeling the guilt of Cedric's and your god-father's death, and I just want to say that I don't think it was your fault. You had nothing to do with his death, you cannot stop someone who is trying to help you, it would be an insult if you had. If you think you could have saved Sirius and Cedric, I have to say that you have a serious hero problem. You must think yourself great indeed, to believe there was a way to save them._

_Anyway, just to cheer you up a bit, I've gotten you a present. It's something that'll come in handy during the fight, but I personally made it for you, with some help from my mother, father and Professor Dumbledore, I hope you like it._

_Ginny_

Harry smiled, this was the first time someone had gotten him something made directly for him, except for Weasley jumpers. Ginny's rather blunt words had also managed to jolt him back to senses, now that he thought about it, it did seem rather stupid for Harry to blame himself. If there was one thing Harry did not think, it was that he was more powerful then others. There were others more suited to the task, such as Hermione, who had more brains and Dumbledore who was more powerful. Although he still wished Sirius had survived.

Harry opened the package that had accompanied Ginny's letter, and gasped. Wrapped in some sort of red material was a wand-holster. It was a red tube for Harry to slide his wand in that would hang on his waist. It was embroidered in gold thread with lions, stags, big dogs, wolves and phoenixes. The lion was clearly a reference to Gryffindor house, the stags were for his father, the dogs for Sirius, the wolves for Remus and the phoenixes could stand for either Dumbledore or the Order. He spotted a note attached to it, and turned it over to read;

_P.S. Don't worry, it's completely safe and it works, Moody tested it. It's got charms so that the wand can't be summoned when they're in it, it repels dirt, wear and tear, and you can call it to you from anywhere with your thoughts. _

He lifted it out, knowing it'd be safe if Moody and Dumbledore had had something to do with it. He slid his wand into it and set it by his bed. He turned to the rest of the package. A large box of chocolates was also there, with a small note attached,

_I thought you might like something sweet to eat, because if I know my mum, she sent you mainly healthy things._

Harry grinned, Ginny knew her mother _very_ well. He turned now to the next owl.

Harry gasped as he realized who it was from, this was the first time Nymphrada Tonks had sent him anything.

_Dear Harry,_

_I heard from Minerva that you want to be an Auror, and so I thought I get you this. It should come in handy, I'm sorry I can't get you the actual Auror's Guide, but we're forbidden to give it away._

_Tonks_

Harry opened the package and found a leather bound book titled 'An Aspiring Auror's Guide'. Grinning, he flipped through it briefly, and then set it aside, turning to the second-to-last owl.

_Potter,_

_I thought this might come in handy. It has a tracking charm, to let us know where you are._

_Moody_

Harry opened the package curiously, and his jaw dropped. A small gold lion engraving hung on the end of a gold chain. He looked at it for a moment, and then clasped it around his neck.

Now it was time for the final owl. This owl was obviously from Hogwarts, it had the almost regal bearing that all Hogwarts owls somehow had. Not to mention the thick letter it carried had the Hogwarts seal on it.

Harry accepted the letter, and broke the seal to open the parchment.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_It is my pleasure to inform you that this year's term starts on September 1st, and that the Hogwarts Express will depart from Platform 9 ¾ at 10:00 am. Please find enclosed a list of the necessary books and equipment for your sixth year at this school, as well as your O.W.L results. Please send your House Head a list of your desired N.E.W.T subjects by no later then July 31. _

_Please be aware that because of the return of Lord Voldermort, it has been decided that aurors will patrol the Hogwarts Express. Please be at the train no later then 9:30, to ensure you have enough time to pass security and get on board._

_Mr. Potter, Professor Dumbledore will be teaching you Occulmancy this year, so please buy the necessary books in the enclosed list for that subject as well. Your life ban on Quidditch has also been lifted, and you have been reinstated as Seeker, and been placed as Captain of the team._

_Professor McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Harry shook his head in exasperation; did they really think that checking IDs or whatever they were going to do would make the Hogwarts Express any safer? IDs could be faked, not to mention that Harry had no idea what a wizarding ID was. Harry tipped the shiny Quidditch badge into his hand and frowned, what would Ron say? Would he be jealous?

Sighing, Harry turned resolutely to the next piece of parchment, which was his books list. Harry scanned the list of necessary books, and whistled softly. They were extremely heavy on the spell subjects, especially the Defense part, four books just for DADA. Subjects like Transfiguration and Charms also had two or three books, whereas ones like Potions and Herbology only had one. They were trying to train students to defend themselves more. Harry also had to buy three different books on Occulmancy. And then the clothing, Harry frowned, why did they want battle robes? And comfortable muggle clothing?

Shrugging, Harry turned now to the final piece of parchment, his O.W.L scores. Gulping he lowered his eyes to the parchment and began to read;

_Potions Theory: Exceeds Expectations_

_Potions Practical: Outstanding_

_Potions Overall: Outstanding_

_Transfiguration Theory: Exceeds Expectations_

_Transfiguration Practical: Exceeds Expectations_

_Transfigurations Overall: Exceeds Expectations_

_Astronomy Theory: Acceptable_

_Astronomy Practical: Poor_

_Astronomy Overall: Poor_

_History of Magic Overall: Poor_

_Charms Theory: Exceeds Expectations_

_Charms Practical: Exceeds Expectations_

_Charms Overall: Exceeds Expecations_

_Herbology Theory: Acceptable_

_Herbology Practical: Exceeds Expectations_

_Herbology Overall: Exceeds Expectations_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts Theory: Outstanding_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts Practical: Outstanding_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts Overall: Outstanding_

_Divination Theory: Dreadful_

_Divination Practical: Dreadful_

_Divination Overall: Dreadful_

_Care of Magical Creatures Theory: Outstanding_

_Care of Magical Creatures Practical: Exceeds Expectations_

_Care of Magical Creatures Overall: Exceeds Expectations_

_Extra Credit: Outstanding_

_Total: 7 O.W.Ls. 3 Os, 4 Es, 2 P, 1D_

_For your NEWT subjects, you can choose no less then three of the classes you have qualified for, and no more then ten. The NEWT classes that you have qualified for have been listed below._

_Potions _

_Transfiguration_

_Astronomy_

_Charms_

_Herbology_

_DADA_

_COMC_

_Dueling Club (new class) _

_You may take classes in other subjects if you did not get the required grade, but you will not do your N.E.W.T in that class. You will do yearly tests, but it will not count towards your N.E.W.Ts. Please indicate if you would like to take extra classes by 31st July._

Harry gasped, how he could he have managed an O in Potions? He passed 7 O.W.Ls, four of which were Os! He had expected the fail in Divination, History of Magic and Astronomy, but he'd also thought he'd failed Potions. But he'd passed it, and passed it high enough to get himself into NEWT Potions! He had the right classes to get into the Auror Program! He absently noted the rain stopping, and the clouds beginning to clear.

He grinned, now Snape couldn't stop him getting into Potions, and then into applying to be an Auror. He smirked, thinking of Snape's face when he walked into N.E.W.T potions, that would be an amusing five minutes, even if Snape made his life hell for the rest of the year.

Harry grabbed a piece of parchment and quickly wrote down his choices.

_N.E.W.T classes:_

_Potions_

_Transfiguration_

_Herbology_

_Charms_

_DADA_

_COMC_

_Dueling Club_

Harry decided not to take any other electives, thinking he'd have a full enough schedule, what with the seven classes, the D.A, Occulmency and the Quidditch team.

"Hey, girl, come here," Harry said to the only owl still in the room, his own owl Hedwig. Obediently, the owl fluttered over to his arm.

"Take this to Professor McGonagall," Harry stroked her feathers gently as he spoke, "okay?" Hedwig rubbed her head against Harry's for a moment and then took off, soaring out into the night sky.

Harry smiled, as he set all of his new birthday gifts under the loose floor board. He glanced at the digital clock beside his bed, and was surprised to see it reading 1:18 am. He had been 16 for an hour and eighteen minutes without realizing it. Harry flipped back the covers on his bed, and climbed in. As he made himself comfortable, he reached up and flicked the light off. Removing his glasses, he set them on the bed-side table. Within moments he was fast asleep, a contented smile on his lips.

Only a few moments after his breathing evened out, two cloaked and hooded figures appeared by his bed. One of them reached out with a tender hand and traced the scar on his forehead, before carefully unclasping the necklace around his neck.

"Harry James Potter," a feminine voice whispered, as the figure laid the necklace on the bed-side table. The other reached out and placed something on Harry's chest. He pointed his hand at the black object, and tapped something on his lower left arm. Harry vanished with a soft sound, and the two hooded figures soon followed.

A/N: So, what do you think? Now don't be too bad on me, I mean I tried my best. The pairings will be told later but you can put up ideas! Tell me in a review. Please, flames aren't particularly appreciated _unless _they are _constructive_ flames.

A/N: BIG thanks to my BETA reader, Hells Tenshi!


	2. Chapter 2 Who Are You

**Chapter 2 – Who are you?**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past. Any resemblance to real events or places is entirely accidental.

Chapter 2

"Remind me again, why you brought him here?" a male voice demanded angrily, "someone who doesn't know who we are!"

"He's one of the Masters, Donald," a determined feminine voice replied, "he needs to be trained."

"He's just a sixteen-year-old boy who uses his fame to get everything he wants," the man spat, "didn't you read the Daily Prophet last year! He's nothing but an attention seeker and a lunatic!"

"I don't believe everything the Daily Prophet says, Donald," the woman replied, "I took the time to watch him over the last couple of years, and he's no attention seeker. Now, please leave before he wakes up, he doesn't need you around for his first moments awake here." Harry heard the swish of robes and footsteps, before the opening and slamming of a door. The woman sighed and he felt the bed go down slightly as though someone had sat on it,

"Harry, you can open your eyes now." Stunned by the fact she knew he was awake, Harry nonetheless obeyed.

He was in a large room, decorated in gold and red. The gold walls shone and gleamed, as did the tiny orbs floating near the ceiling that gave out a soft golden glow. The bed that he was on had red sheets, and the curtains that hung from the posts of the bed were also red. The bit of the carpet he could see was also red, as were the two couches that faced a fireplace. By his bed were two wooden bed-side tables of a deep brown color. Made of the same stuff were two large bookshelves, the bed itself, a desk and a chair. He could see two wooden doors leading off the room, and a pair of large glass doors that led onto a balcony. What really shocked him though was that fact that a large TV screen was built into the wall opposite the bed, and that there was a computer in one corner of the room. These people were clearly wizards, judging from their mention of the Daily Prophet, and yet they had muggle appliances in the house?

The woman who had spoken was sitting on the edge of his bed and looked to be in her late twenties. She had wavy red hair, cropped to shoulder length. She wore a deep red fitting short-sleeved shirt and a pair of black trousers. Harry could see that she had a perfect figure, and her brown eyes radiated warmth and friendliness. A wand was in a wand holster at her waist, on a black belt, beside a black dagger. There was a black watch on her wrist that he recognized as a miniature version of the Weasley family cloak, except that there were only four hands on it. Around her neck was a silver choker with black stones in it, and a matching bracelet around her wrist. A slim silver ring with the same black stone was on her left hand. When he looked down at himself, he realized he was wearing a white robe that he was pretty sure he didn't own.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Harry demanded. He instantly suspected her as one of Voldemort's agents, although he was a bit confused with the muggle appliances and conversation he'd overheard. It hadn't sounded like one of Voldemort's plans or anything, but it could have been planned for him to overhear.

"This is Bellum Exerceo," she answered, "and I am Ingrid Cortez, you can call me Ingrid." Harry frowned, he didn't recognize either name.

"Where is Bellum Exerceo exactly?" he asked carefully, "does this place belong to the Dark Lord?" The lady's expression darkened considerably, and her eyes lit up with passionate anger, disgust and hatred,

"Tom Riddle is a scourge on Earth," she spat, sadness now creeping across her face, even as the other emotions still flared in her eyes, "to work alongside or for him would be a fate worse then death." She seemed sincere, no-one could fake that amount of anger and fury. Not to mention, he noticed that her left fore-arm was bare, and that there was no sign of the dark mark. She also used his birth name, something no death eater would know or use.

"As for where and what Bellum Exerceo is," she continued, calm again although the sorrow was still evident in her face, "it is both a school and organization that trains in the arts of war and stealth, to fight Dark Wizards. It is located on a plane of existence separate to Earth." At his quizzical expression, she elaborated,

"There are twelve planes of existence; the mortal plane where humans and living creatures dwell, the spirit plane for those who die, the magic plane for magical power, the seven planes of hell for the demons, and two traveling planes. Each time you apparate, portkey etc. you enter the outermost traveling plane for a brief moment, before exiting at your destination. We are held in limbo on the innermost traveling plane, by powerful and ancient magic. This allows us to react quickly to mortal happenings, and no-one finds us because their time here is measured in milliseconds."

"Why am I here?" Harry asked, wondering why exactly he'd been brought here with no warning whatsoever. He was also wondering if the spy at Privet Drive had noticed his disappearance.

"You need to defeat Voldemort," Ingrid replied, "and for that you will need training. Training that you won't be able to receive from the Ministry or the Order of the Phoenix."

"Hang on, you know about the Order?" Harry demanded, astonished.

"Of course, from here we can tap into anything, anywhere in the world. We knew about it the moment it started up again," Ingrid explained, "we want to train you to be as prepared as possible, we don't want Voldemort taking over the mortal plane either. A lot of people that live here have family on Earth, and so we have personal reasons as well as moral ones."

"So you want me to stay here and be trained here?" Harry asked. Ingrid nodded. Harry thought that over, it was more then the Order was doing, but it could take years. He didn't want to be away from his friends or the world for that long.

"How long will it take?" he inquired.

"Normally it takes between three and six years," Ingrid admitted, "in a class of about twelve students. That's just to learn the muggle fighting arts and dueling, not magic itself. But in a private class of one or two people, you could learn all that, plus magic, in about a week, if you train in a specialized wing where time is suspended to the point where one year there is a day out here. Of course, doing that course is very intensive and life-altering. Your outside appearance will change according to the time you spend in there, about seven years, but you won't have seven years cut off your life span. You can't spend more then thirteen days in there though, or the magic starts to make you go insane. You could be back in time for the start of the Hogwarts school year. So, what do you say?" It didn't take very long for Harry to make up his mind,

"Of course I'm staying!" Ingrid smiled,

"Good, we'd better get you kitted out then, and then I'll inform the headmaster." As Harry got out of bed, he remembered something,

"You mentioned earlier that I was one of the 'Masters'," he said, "what does that mean?"

"The Masters...they are people who are magically gifted with strange powers, called the Valeru in the Elvish tongue. Each person is different, but most of those who are gifted are descendants of long lines of power. You, Harry, are one of the Valeru."

"Strange powers? What sort of powers?" he asked. Ingrid shook her head,

"I don't know. Each one of us are different," she answered, "there are three people here who are Valeru. I am one, as is my husband, and my husband's niece. We've all got different powers, ranging of telekinesis to healing and element control." Harry gaped at her, frozen in the act of stepping forward, he was going to have that sort of power?

"Come on," Ingrid said, "let's go." As Harry followed her, she opened one of the doors and stepped through it.

When Harry came through, he found himself in a circular room with four doors in it, including the one he'd just come through. The difference between muggle doors and these ones, was that each door had a palm sized square of gold, silver, bronze or platinum on it. A single passageway led away from the room.

Ingrid led him down the passageway, before turning into a branching passage. A hand-sized metal square was in the middle of the door, and Ingrid pressed her hand to it. Light shimmered on her hand, and then the door swung open. Inside, a middle-aged lady sat at a desk, writing something with a muggle ball-point pen. Behind her were racks of grey and silver clothes, and a small set of shelves covered with boxes. She wore a pale blue dress, and Harry could see the matching high heels from under the desk.

She looked up, and rose to her feet smiling.

"Lady Cortez," she curtsied slightly, "and..."

"Lord Harry Potter-Gryffindor," Ingrid answered, "the most recent Valeru. Harry, this is Demetra Azatran, our wardrobe mistress." Azatran curtsied to him. Harry stared back, unsure if he should bow, or why he'd been called Lord, or Gryffindor for that matter.

"Lord Gryffindor will be training privately in the Time Wing, and needs all his clothing," Ingrid informed Azatran.

"Of course, Lady," Azatran nodded, turning to the rows of robes. She flitted among the racks of clothing, pulling out shirts, trouseurs, robes and cloaks. Placing them down on the desk, she flicked her wand at the first one. It shimmered, and then Harry gasped as it appeared on him. It was a robe with a high collar, and long, loose sleeves. It wasn't grey anymore, but pure white, with gold embroidery on the hem, collar and cuffs. On the breast of the robe there was a gold embroidered lion that moved like any wizarding image. The rest of the robe itself was lightly embroidered with gold thread. It was made of smooth and silky material that was wondrous next to his skin.

"White and gold," Ingrid murmured. Azatran gazed at the robe considering, and then nodded. A flick of her wand sent the next item of clothing in it's place, as the first one reappeared on the desk, neatly folded up.

This new piece was a grey-turned-white long-sleeved shirt. It too was silk, with a high collar and gold embroidery on the cuffs, hem and collar. A second flick of the wand had him wearing a pair of silken gold trousers with silver embroidery, and a white belt held together by a gold clasp in the shape of a phoenix, with yellow jewels for eyes. When Harry glanced to the side, he saw Ingrid speaking softly, her watch held up to her mouth.

Forty-five minutes later, Harry had ended up with a lot of clothes. Numerous shirts, trousers, belts, robes, shoes and cloaks, for formal, casual and battle circumstances. He was wearing a set of the formal outfit, including a shirt, trouseurs, a belt, a robe, a light cloak, and a pair of boots. At last Azatran turned to the shelves, and picked up a white box. Opening it, she presented him with a white wand sheath embroidered with gold thread and adorned with yellow jewels. It had two white straps on it, presumably to fasten it.

"It goes on the inside of your wand arm," she explained, "it is a quick-release sheath that will propel your wand into your hand." Harry took it, and fastened it to his right arm. Ingrid silently handed him his wand, which she had produced from her pocket.

Next, Azatran handed Ingrid a gold choker in figures on eight, with small yellow jewels in each hollow. Before Harry knew what she was doing, she'd fastened it around his neck, and slid a matching bracelet over his right wrist. Before he could say a word, Ingrid explained,

"they are a mark of your rank as a Valeru. You must wear them at all times." She handed him a gold ring with the yellow jewel, and Harry obediently slid it on. Azatran gave him a second gold ring, similar to the first. As Harry's hand closed on it, it grew and changed to become a four-foot long staff of gold, inlaid with white wire and yellow jewels. At the tip was a large yellow jewel carved in the shape of a flying phoenix. It remained like that for only a moment before shrinking to become a ring again. Still staring at it, Harry put it on his hand.

Azatran picked up two white boxes, and opened them. She held them out to Harry, who peered in. One held a white watch similar to Ingrid's, while the other held a pair of black sun-glasses. Harry fastened the watch onto his wrist, but wasn't sure what to do with the glasses.

"Put them on, and focus on the glasses themselves," Ingrid told him. Harry did so, and gasped as a list of options suddenly appeared on the edge of the glasses.

"It's a database that connects with your watch," she explained. Harry nodded, taking them off again.

"We need to go get your weapons, and then report in to the headmaster," Ingrid informed him. She pointed at the bags filled with robes, and they all vanished. Aztran curtsied, and then Ingrid led him out of the room.

"Why were you called me Gryffindor?" he asked quickly. Ingrid glanced at him in confusion,

"you didn't know?" Harry shook his head in confusion.

"You are a descendant of Godric Gryffindor, I'll explain later."

The room next-door was where they went in, and Harry's jaw dropped as he saw the array of swords, daggers, spears, bows, quivers, axes, maces, staffs and queer looking items that were everywhere. A young man bowed to them as they entered,

"Lady Cortez," he greeted them, "and...?"

"Lord Harry Potter-Gryffindor," Ingrid answered, "the most recent Valeru. Harry, this is Saliun Aztran. Saliun, Lord Gryffindor needs his weapons."

"Of course, Lady," Aztran gestured around the room, "Lord, please look around. When you find your weapons, you will know."

Puzzled, Harry began to slowly walk around the room. Soon he felt a tugging in one direction. As he followed it, it became stronger and stronger. He found himself standing in front of a gleaming sword. It's hilt was of gold, and embedded with yellow jewels and white wire in the shape of a phoenix. The sheath was also gold, embroidered with white thread and yellow jewels. He reached out to grasp the hilt, and felt a tingling sensation run through his hand. He released the sword, and looked down at his palm. A phoenix was imprinted onto his palm, but this phoenix was different. It was white and gold, instead of red and gold. It's wings flapped and it moved, but it was always in the same place.

He looked up as Ingrid stepped beside him. She glanced at his hand, and nodded,

"it's normal, Harry." She turned her hand over, and Harry saw a panther imprinted on her palm. He reached out to take the blade again, and this time, it felt warm and familiar. He clipped it to his belt, where it was obviously meant to go. The tugging started again, this time in another direction.

Half an hour later, Harry had a number of different weapons at his belt. He had the sword, five daggers, a war-hammer, a glaive, a bow, a quiver with fifty arrows, and a staff. Each had the same white and gold theme, but only the sword had given him an imprint.

Aztran bent behind his desk, and came up with two pieces of clothing. A skin-tight, long sleeved, high collared shirt, and a pair of skin-tight trouseurs. Both were made of black dragon hide.

"Dragon-hide armor," Aztran explained, "it will protect against most spells and charms." As soon as Harry touched them, they vanished, and he could feel them against his skin.

"You'll understand later," Ingrid assured him, "thanks, Saliun."

She led Harry out, and down the hallway. Five minutes later, she stopped outside a statue of a tiger in mid-leap. She touched a hand to it, and a voice spoke,

"Your name please."

"Ingrid Amanda Carmen Echo Sky Cortez-Hufflepuff," Ingrid recited.

"Accepted. And the other?"

"Harry James Daniel Emrys Potter-Gryffindor," Ingrid prompted him. Harry stared at her,

"that's not my name!" he protested.

"Just say it, I'll explain in a moment," she told him.

"Harry James Daniel Emrys Potter-Gryffindor," Harry repeated, dubiously.

"Accepted." The tiger moved aside, revealing a staircase. Ingrid started the climb up, Harry close on her heels.

She knocked lightly on the door at the top, and then pushed it open without waiting for a reply. Harry stepped into the room, nervously, unsure about what to expect. A black haired man sat behind an elaborately engraved wooden desk. The desk itself was littered with parchment, and in one corner of it was a computer. On the front of the desk, bronze letters were imprinted into the wood, reading 'BSS'. Beside his desk was a red stand embedded with rubies and bronze colored wire. The walls of the room were bronze in color, and the carpet beneath their feet was red. Bookshelves stuffed with thick books lined the wall behind the desk and a second wall was completely made of glass, looking out over some gardens. In the third wall was a massive T-V screen, similar to the one in the room Harry had woken up in. There was a set of drawers beside the door, and the top it had three gleaming bronze photo frames. In the middle picture one was a picture of the man at the desk in a suit, kissing a younger Ingrid, who was clad in a white bridal gown. On the left was a picture of a man and a woman in their early fifties, both of whom had a resemblance to the man. On the right was a picture of another couple, these ones in their late fifties, who bore similarities to Ingrid. All three were wizarding pictures.

The man looked up, and Harry saw his dark brown eyes light up. He rose smoothly to his feet,

"Harry Potter?" he inquired, as he stepped around his desk. Harry nodded slowly, as he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Ingrid had moved forward towards the man, and stood beside him, his arm around her waist.

"I'm Gregorio Cortez, the headmaster of this school," he held out his free hand. Harry shook his hand, before looking to Ingrid for an explanation. He guessed they were married, since they had the same last name as well as the picture. She smiled,

"we're married." Gregorio nodded,

"eight years ago," he said quietly, "five years after we found we were Valeru."

"Can I ask _why_ you said I am a descendant of Gryffindor?" Harry asked after a moment. Both of them looked somewhat surprised,

"you weren't told?" Gregorio asked. Harry shook his head.

"Harry, your father was descended in a direct pure-blood line from Godric Gryffindor, from eldest to eldest. Therefore, you are the last remaining heir of Gryffindor. Valeru always are descended from powerful magical lines, the Hogwarts Four being four of the strongest witches and wizards ever lived. You are descended from Gryffindor, I am from Hufflepuff, and Gregorio is descended from Slytherin," Ingrid explained, "Slytherin's line is the only one that was jumped from the eldest child. Tom Riddle's family lost their claim when Tom's mother married a muggle. He is not the heir of Slytherin, the influx of muggle blood tainted it. Gregorio's grandfather was the brother of Tom Riddle's grandfather, and is the closest blood relation still living." Harry nodded slowly, beginning to understand.

"But what about my mother, she was a muggle-born?"

"Yes, but Riddle's father was a muggle. Lily Evans still had magical power and blood, and so didn't change your heritage," Gregorio explained. Harry nodded again.

"Your full name isn't Harry James Potter, by the way, it's Harry James Daniel Emrys Potter-Gryffindor. The Gryffindor is at the end because of your Valeru powers, if you weren't one of us, it'd be Harry James Daniel Emrys Gryffindor Potter," Ingrid added.

"So, we'll send you into training with Carmen, my niece who is another Valeru," Gregorio suggested, "she arrived about a month ago, but hasn't started doing much training yet. Ingrid told me you wanted to be out by the time school starts." Harry nodded,

"I'll be out by the time school starts, right?" Gregorio nodded,

"You shouldn't take 28 years to learn it all."

"What sort of subjects will I learn?" Harry inquired.

"Fencing, Archery, hand-to-hand dagger combat, throwing daggers, glaive work, staff work, war-hammer, unarmed combat, spell construction, dueling both with and without a wand, wandless magic, stealth and working with our gadgets," Ingrid answered, "as well as the special abilities you have. If we have time, we'll start teaching you the normal school subjects like Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology etc." Harry stared at her, his mouth open, he had to master over fourteen subjects?

"If you need more time, which I really doubt, we'll continue training you in the outside world, and then go back in time for the start of the Hogwarts school year," Gregorio informed him, "do you accept this?" Harry nodded,

"I accept," the was a brief pause as something occurred to him, "how did you know that I wanted to be out by the time school starts? Lady Cortez didn't have a chance to talk to you since I woke up?"

"Please call me Ingrid," she told him, "Lady Cortez doesn't feel right coming from you." She waited until his nod of agreement before continuing, "remember the watch and glasses you got? We all have them, they work like a com-link system. I can talk to other people, portkey, bring up maps, access databases, all from my watch and sunglasses. We combined the state-of-the-art muggle technology with wizarding powers. In fact, we use a lot of muggle things here. Some of our field agents, especially the spies, are too young to use magic outside school on Earth, and so we have muggle alternatives for them. Not to mention that some muggle inventions are far better then their wizarding equivalents." Harry nodded,

"I'll learn how to use all this?"

"Of course, we're not going to send you back to Earth without a means of contacting us quickly," Gregorio assured him, "now, shall we head into the Time Wing?"

Harry followed the two of them down the stairs. They were having a very quiet conversation, so Harry took the opportunity to look around and see what this place was like. The hallways were made of grey stone, but there were richly woven tapestries of both the muggle and wizarding kind all over the walls. The images made the place feel brighter and more cheerful. There seemed to be doors everywhere, each one guarded by the palm plate. The passages themselves were deserted, he didn't see another living soul through the entire journey.

"Why are the passages so deserted?" he asked, when there was a lull in the adult's conversation.

"The school year hasn't started yet," Ingrid replied, "and most of the adults are away on missions."

Harry found himself being led into the room where the doorway to the room he'd woken up in was. Gregorio stepped up to a door and knocked on it. It opened after a moment, revealing a girl about his age. She was of medium-height, and her black hair was down to mid-back and wavy. She had sky blue eyes that shone with curiosity and friendliness. She was slender and though she looked fragile, you could sense the strength of mind and body that came off her in turrents. She wore a light blue, knee-length skirt and a matching spaghetti strap top. Harry saw a bronze choker around her throat, similar to the one he himself wore, except that there were sapphires, instead of yellow stones. A matching bracelet encircled her wrist, and there were even sapphire drops in her ears. Harry felt something that he couldn't quite explain. She dropped a small curtsey,

"Uncle Gregorio, Aunt Ingrid," she greeted them.

"Good morning, Carmen," Ingrid greeted her warmly, "we've found the next Valeru. He'll be training with you in the Time Wing." Carmen held her hand out,

"I'm Carmen Elizabeth Veronica Serenity Continguo-Hufflepuff," she informed him, "and you are...?"

"Harry James Daniel Emrys Potter-Gryffindor," he answered after a moment, taking her hand. He was seized by a sudden impulse, and turned her hand over to kiss it lightly. She smiled warmly at him,

"what a charming boy you are." Harry blushed fiery red as Ingrid and Gregorio hid chuckles.

"You can get acquainted later, we're going to move you into the Time Wing," Gregorio instructed, "I've already recalled your teachers, they'll be here tomorrow. Once we get into the time wing, you'll have the equivalent of a year to do what-ever you want, before your training starts." Harry and Carmen nodded.

"Hang on, I'll get my stuff," she said, disappearing back into the room. A few moments later she reappeared, her trunk floating behind her. At Harry's curious look, she explained,

"the ministry of magic can only sense magic done on the mortal plane, so we can do magic here without worrying." Harry nodded his understanding, it'd all be a lot easier now that he could do magic with a wand.

Ten minutes later, they were standing in front of a archway. Looking through it, Harry could see only white smoke. Ingrid stepped through the archway, and vanished instantly. Carmen went next, and she too vanished. Harry eyed it nervously, but steeled his nerves and stepped through.

A/N: There, Chapter 2 is finished. Review people! I won't know if I should continue if you don't. You know you want to ï 


	3. Chapter 3 A Year Alone

**Chapter 3 – A Year Alone**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past. Any resemblance to real events or places is entirely accidental. Meaning that if something is the same as in another story I didn't know about it. Once people thought I had cut and past a story while I wrote it by myself! Let me tell u that it was not pretty! So if something is the same I had made it up its just that the other author and I just think alike! OK?!

Snuffles007

Thanks.

Chance Light

I hope you like this new chapter as much as the first two.

Lady of Masbolle

Thanks, I plan to continue it. As you can see by the fact I've posted a new chapter.

Ana26

Hey Ana. Rather weird review, although I've probably already told you that by now. Thanks for the compliments.

Be0t

Harry/Tonks? I don't remember doing anything about Harry/Tonks. I won't say anything about the pairings, except that I've already decided the main pairings, and I can't change them without changing the entire story. If this means I lose some reviewers, then I'm sorry, but I will not change it. I will say that any romance he does have will not be without its ups and downs. This is not a normal pairing though, it's very rare. In fact, I'd be surprised if _anyone_ had the same pairing as this story.

BloodRedSword

Thanks. While your review is short, it gives me a lot of confidence. I've read a number of stories which you've reviewed, and you always like the ones that I do.

Annoymous – Anonmous

I can see the cliché in the fact that he goes off for training, but I like to think that the actual plot is original. I haven't read any like this yet; maybe you could point them out so I could make sure I don't do the same as someone else? I know what you mean about the chapter lengths, they really annoy me too. The plot kind of has to move quickly here, he only has a few days in which the BSS can cover for him, before he must return to the Dursley's.

Moonstone-mystyk

Well, your wait is over

Zaxxon

You're not the only one to have mistaken it for something about the Valheru saga. I actually hadn't read it, until some people mentioned it. I love his stories, they're really good. Well, mine is absolutely nothing like that, it was born from watching spy kids too many times.

Chibi-NarutoKawaii

Thanks! I intend to!

Anonymous – Ron

Thanks, here's the third chapter. The fourth one is well on its way to being written (in my head at least).

Shannon Snape

Thanks! But I don't understand what you mean about extra names? I don't remember writing names without a character.

Anonymous – Aira

Thanks for the review. I hope this chapter is to your satisfaction.

Bukama:

I really appreciate you giving me such a long review; it's a lot more satisfying then a two-word one (which I'm guilty of quite a bit). The time chamber, he'll age the seven physical years, but he'll use an illusion or a potion or something to slowly change his appearance from his old appearance to his new one while at school. He doesn't magically get muscles or anything. That will come from eating, sleeping or working hard. As for the soul-mate thing, I won't say anything, except that I've already decided the main pairings, and I can't change them without changing the entire story. If this means I lose some reviewers, then I'm sorry, but I will not change it. I will say that any romance he does have will not be without its ups and downs. I've never read the book called 'War of the Rift'; I'll have to see if I can find it.

Noompjuh

Thanks for reviewing, but you're wrong. He isn't spending years in the Time Wing. He spends 7 years there, and there are illusionary spells that he might use. Thanks for your review though, it was quite useful.

Makotochi

I never said whether people will know he's gone or not. There are spells, ancient spells that could make it seem as though he was there all that time. No guarantee that's what I'll do though. Thanks for your comments, anyway

Sappiody

Thanks for reviewing; of course I'll continue the story. I'm enjoying writing it, especially with my beta reader. She's really nice, and she's in my school, so we can talk during class. grins

Anonymous – A Fan

Thanks for reviewing; it really helps boost the confidence. As for the Ravenclaw heir...well, if you don't already know, you'll have to wait and see.

Chapter 3

A feeling of coldness washed over him, before vanishing as he found himself standing in a silver room. The two silver couches faced the fireplace, two wooden desks were by one wall, three empty bookshelves were on the same wall, and four doors led away. Carmen was disappearing through one door, while Ingrid was waiting next to another.

"Here, Harry," she beckoned to him, "your bedroom is through here." When he joined her, she pressed her palm to the plate,

"Ingrid Amanda Carmen Echo Sky Cortez-Hufflepuff, prepare to lock," she said, as a blue light scanned her hand.

"Accepted. Prepared to lock," a voice droned. Ingrid removed her hand and turning to Harry,

"Press your hand to the gold plate, say your name clearly, and say 'lock'." Harry placed his right hand on the plate,

"Harry James Daniel Emrys Potter-Gryffindor, lock," he repeated. The same blue light skimmed over his hand, producing a light tickling sensation.

"Accepted. Locked." The door swung open, and Ingrid urged him through, following him closely. He caught glimpses of grey and silver as he turned to face Ingrid again.

"I'll leave you to settle, but first I'll show you how to call up a map of this place and how to call us," she said, "put on your glasses." Harry pulled them from his pocket and slipped them on.

"Concentrate on the glasses themselves," she instructed, "now focus hard on the tab that says 'Maps'." Harry did so, and his jaw dropped as a whole list of names appeared on the inside of his glasses.

"Now focus on the one that reads Bellum Exerceo," she told him. A whole new list of names came up.

"Concentrate on one of the options, and the map will appear." Harry focused on the tab that read, 'Overall'. On the inside of his glasses, he saw a map showing rooms and corridors.

"To get rid of it, concentrate on the x in the corner." Harry did so, and found himself one screen back. He then selected one that read 'Muggle Fighting Arts Division'. He gasped as a detailed map of rooms, corridors and people appeared.

"I see you've discovered the tracking device on the glasses," Ingrid sounded amused, "everyone in the world is tracked, and put on the map. Don't worry; if the glasses are used by anyone except the one they are intended for, they don't function as anything other then sunglasses. Everyone is constantly monitored for dark activity, so no-one can even consider joining Riddle without us knowing."

"Like the Maurderer's map," Harry breathed.

"It has maps of every country, state, county, city, town, school and Ministry in the world," she informed him, "each one with tracking devices."

"How do you track everyone in the world?" Harry asked.

"Very advanced magic," Ingrid explained, "an old spell was found about ten years ago. When it is put up, it instantly tracks everyone on the world, and puts it onto a main map. Some alterations turned it into the spell that works the glasses. Babies are also detected, from only a few minutes old. Even if anti-magic wards are put up, you will be able to access the maps, but not the trackers." Harry nodded; they must have used muggle technology to do that.

"Now, for contacting us," Ingrid began, "hold the watch up near your mouth and say, 'Contact '. We each have different code-names to protect us from anyone who might overhear you. I'm Unicorn, in reference to one of my animangi forms and Gregorio is Pegasus, in reference to his own animangi form. You'll have direct contact with us." She produced a small, flesh colored piece of material,

"If you put this behind your ear, you'll hear our voice issuing from that, at a level only you can hear." Harry took it, and carefully pushed it against his ear. When he was done, it couldn't be felt or seen anymore.

"And this, when you press down on the one on your ear, you can talk through that, instead of your watch," she handed him a small, flesh colored piece of material, and pointed to his throat. Harry fastened it on, watching as changed to match his skin tone, rendering it all but invisible.

"You need to come up with a code name," she reminded him, "something that signifies you, but something not many people would know." Ideas flitted through his mind, his ancestor, his middle names, the prophecy, but then his mind settled on one final thing, the Maurderers. In honor of his father.

"Prongs," he whispered. Ingrid looked startled,

"How is that significant to you?" Harry smiled sadly,

"My father's nick-name and the name of my Patronus." Ingrid nodded,

"All right, you can change it later if you want, as you might want to do when you find out your own animangi abilities." Harry nodded,

"Thanks." He really meant it, never had anyone gone to this sort of lengths to help him. Even his teachers at school at merely given him the things, and then sent him on his way to figure it out with his friends.

"No problem," Ingrid smiled gently at him. She turned to go, and then faced him one last time,

"Harry, if you need anything, I'm here."

Harry watched her go, very confused. She stirred up emotions in him he'd never felt for anyone before. It wasn't that he fancied her; it wasn't that kind of emotion. It was something deeper, something more abiding. But at the same time, he instinctively knew that it wasn't the love between a boy-friend and girl-friend, he somehow knew he was going to get his turn at that love later. It was more like what he felt for Mrs. Weasley, except more then that

Pushing those thoughts aside, Harry looked around his room. It had changed since his entrance, he was sure of it. The walls were gold now, as were the tiny orbs near the ceiling that lit up the room. On a raised dais at the back of the room was a mahogany canopy bed with gold sheets and curtains. At the foot of the bed was his scuffed and marked trunk, lying open and empty except for his books. Harry assumed everything had already been put away, like his robes. By the bed were two matching bed-side tables, upon one of which rested a white laptop. On the other table were three large vials filled with liquid. The carpet beneath his feet was pure white, as was the couch by the fire-place. On the right hand wall was a large empty bookshelf, next to a white-rimmed mirror. The left-hand wall was completely taken up with the giant glass doors that led out to a balcony over a garden. The wall opposite the bed was half taken up by a TV-screen, while the door was in the other half. By the bed was a gold jeweled perching post, clearly meant for Hedwig, who perched on it. Harry walked over to her, and stroked her feathers gently, smiling softly,

"Hey, girl." She chirped softly and rubbed her head against his hand. Harry gave her a last pat, and decided to explore the room a bit more thoroughly.

He walked over to the bed, and sat down carefully. It was as hard as stone beneath him, but slowly gave beneath his weight. Harry stood up, and sat down again, curious. This time, it gave instantly. He grinned; obviously it was charmed to adjust to his comfort levels. Next he looked at the bottles of potions by his bed. Each was neatly labeled as 'Pain-Reliever', 'Dreamless-Sleep' or 'Healing'. Each would come in handy during his training, and even before that, during this year to himself. He wanted to catch up on things he should know at this age, things he'd need to defeat Voldemort. Harry stared over at the lap top, before turning away. He didn't know how to use it, he'd wait for someone to show him, or ask later.

He moved over to the bookshelf, running a hand over the empty shelves. It wouldn't much use to him empty; he'd have to find out where the library was. His fingers hit something, and Harry peered over at it. It was small note written on muggle paper. He detached it carefully, and lowered his eyes to it,

'Speak thy desired subject and watch every book in the library on that subject appear'. Harry frowned, but decided to try out the idea.

"Dueling," he said clearly. He gaped as each shelf was suddenly bulging with thick books, each one to do with Dueling. He grinned; he wouldn't have to find the library.

Moving to the mirror, he stared into it. His reflection stared back at him, wide-eyed.

"You really need to do something about your hair," the mirror remarked, "and you are _so_ thin!" Harry jumped, it was a magical mirror. He moved on quickly, not wanting to listen to anymore of the mirror's smart remarks.

He walked over to the sliding doors and pushed them open. He stepped out onto the balcony, staring out. Several stories below him were brightly colored flower-beds, elegant hedges and beautiful stone statues and water features. The scent of roses, lilies and exotic flowers mingled as they reached his nose, and the gentle breeze was cool against his skin. After a few moments, he returned inside, carefully sliding the doors shut.

He opened the door and stepped back into the first room he'd entered. He moved to one of the other doors, one that had silver letters over it proclaiming 'Library'. He entered the room, after repeating his full name to the door, and his jaw dropped. The room was so large, he couldn't see any of the walls, and he'd appeared in the middle of the room. Shelves stretched as far as the eye could see and further. He walked to the nearest one and peered at the closest book.

"Love Potions," he read. He scanned the rest of that bookshelf, and found that they were all about potions for love and lust. He turned around, and stepped through the doorway that was suspended in mid-air.

He reappeared in the main room, and turned to the final door. 'Training' was above the door, and Harry entered. He found himself faced by another row of doors.

"Hospital Wing...Potions Lab...Dueling...Spell Strength...Muggle Gym...Quidditch Pitch/Running Track...Forest...Jungle...Desert...Tundra...Mountains...Plains...Virtual Reality," he murmured, reading each sign. After a moment he walked to the door labeled 'Mountains', and pushed it open.

The first thing Harry noticed was that he was freezing and he could barely breathe. His teeth were chattering and he was turning blue. After a quick warming and oxygen spell, he looked around. He was on the side of a snowy mountain, high up above the clouds. No wonder it was so cold, and the air was so thin. This must be training ground, to train in mountain terrain.

He quickly left the mountain, and walked over to the Virtual Reality Room. Entering it, he looked around, puzzled. It was completely white room, enclosed with nothing inside. Shrugging, Harry turned to leave. But the door was gone. Eyes widening, he whirled around, searching for a way free.

He found no door, but he did find something else. Something that freaked him out. An enormous black dragon was at the other end of the suddenly enormous room. But wait, it wasn't a room anymore. It was a volcano, and Harry was perched precariously on the edge of it, just in front of the bubbling lava. He gasped, as he realized what this was. A muggle virtual reality room, where they controlled what appeared in there, and what it looked like. But if it had wizarding magic tied into it, Harry wouldn't be surprised if this dragon was substantial. He drew his wand, prepared to defend himself if necessary. He was so used to being by himself in this sort of thing, that he completely forgot about his ability to contact Ingrid and Gregorio.

The dragon's head swung towards him, and they stared at one another for a moment. The dragon launched itself into the air with a furious snarl. Harry tightened his grip on his wand, and slowly lifted it to point unerringly at the dragon. Furiously, he scanned through everything he could remember about dragons. Their hide repelled most spells...they were big...their eyes were their weakest point. Grinning, Harry flicked his wand hard,

"Conjunctivo!" he shouted. The spell issued from his wand, and Harry realized he needed to work on his aiming as it struck the dragon's side. It bellowed its rage and dived. Harry froze in place, too scared to move. At the last minute he panicked and attempted to jump to the nearest rock.

He screamed as he fell downwards, towards the boiling lava beneath him. The wind rushed past him, and his eyes stung as he hurtled head-first down. His wand fell out of suddenly nerve-less fingers, and he watched it tumble down into the lava below him. He squeezed his eyes shut as he neared the fire, bracing himself for the pain of being burnt alive.

But it never came, after a few moments, he tentatively opened his eyes. He was on his back, staring up at a very amused looking brunette girl. She had her hands on her hips and a grin on her lips. Harry felt the heat rush to his cheeks; she'd seen him battling the dragon? Or rather, trying to avoid the dragon?

"Did you enjoy the flight?" she asked. Harry groaned as he stood up. He heard a soft chuckle behind him, and whirled. Ingrid stood there, leaning against the open door, grinning. Harry groaned and dropped his head into his hands,

"This day just keeps getting better and better," he muttered, "I'm going." He pushed past them and hurried out of the room, too embarrassed to do anything else.

He'd just flopped down on his bed, cheeks still burning, when there was a tentative knock on the door.

"Um...Lord Gryffindor?" Carmen's voice came through the door, sounding slightly nervous. Harry groaned, he really did _not_ want to face her at that moment. Nonetheless, he didn't feel like insulting his main companion for the next seven years on the very first day he met her. Slowly he stood up and went over to the door, and pulled it open. Carmen was standing nervously in front of him, looking up at him.

"Um...I just wanted to say sorry. I didn't mean to upset you like that," she said tentatively. Harry gave her a small smile, no use holding grudges, especially when she hadn't known he would react like that.

"It's okay," he paused, and then pushed on, "do you want to come in and talk?"

"Sure," she said enthusiastically, "I'd love to get to know you better." He stepped back to allow her to step in. She stepped in, and they went over to the two-seater couch and sat down.

"So, what is your life like?" she asked eagerly, "all I know about you is what everyone knows, that you're the Boy-Who-Lived and you've faced Voldemort himself five times and lived to talk about it." Harry looked startled,

"You say his name."

"Yeah. Uncle Gregorio was very strict about that, said something about fear of a name increasing fear of the thing itself," Carmen shrugged. Harry grinned,

"I've had that one thrown at me several times as well. Well, a quick summary of my life. I was brought up by my muggle relatives, without any knowledge of the wizarding world until I turned eleven. I attend Hogwarts. Every year since then I've faced Voldemort or one of his lackeys. Oh, and my potions teacher hates me." Carmen grinned,

"I know what you mean. The fencing teacher here, Donald Donmensic, is a real bastard," she said fervently, "hates me. I think he's jealous of my uncle."

"Why?"

"One, he wants Uncle Gregorio's job, as headmaster, and two," here she giggled, "I think he fancies Aunt Ingrid." Harry's jaw dropped,

"This Donmensic guy fancies your _aunt_?" Carmen nodded, laughing outright now,

"It's kind of funny to see him when she's around. He keeps trying to call her by her first name, but she doesn't let him." Harry had only known Ingrid for a day, but he could imagine what her face would be like.

"What does your uncle think of it?" he inquired.

"Publicly, he ignores it. Privately, he thinks it's hilarious, something that doesn't endear him to his wife, I'll tell you," Carmen whispered conspiratorially.

"I imagine it wouldn't," Harry agreed, "but what about you? What's your life been like? Who are your parents?" She suddenly sobered, her face grim,

"My parents...they're dead. They died when I was six. My father was an auror, and he died fighting some dark wizards. My mother...she committed suicide a few months later." Harry gulped,

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." She smiled bravely at him, but stared off to the side,

"It's okay; I don't remember much about them. My guardianship was passed to Uncle Gregorio, my mother's brother. I went to a muggle school until I turned eleven, and then Aunt Ingrid home-schooled me here. I've learnt Potions, Transfigurations, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Astronomy, History of Magic, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Divination and Healing. I also learned how to use a lot of the gadgets we use here. I also learnt dueling, archery, fencing etc. I know most of what we're going to learn here." She shrugged. Harry gaped at her,

"So you know all of this?"

"Pretty much," she admitted, "but my weakness is dueling, I'm really bad at that, so I think I'll be having extra classes in that while you're learning everything else."

"I'm ok at dueling," Harry commented, "according to my Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, at any rate." She nodded,

"You'd have to be, to have stayed alive this long against Voldemort." She hesitated and then looked directly at him,

"Look, I know most of the school work up to seventh year; do you want me to help you get ahead now? It means you won't have to study so hard later?" It took Harry only seconds to agree,

"Sure. I mean, I've only memorized by spell books up until 4th year, so I've got quite a bit of work to do, even to catch up with my class," he admitted. Carmen grinned,

"Ok. So what say we work on school work in the morning, and then in the afternoon we can do physical exercise and anything we want?" she suggested. Harry nodded.

"Ok, what were your OWL results?" she asked, "we can work from that."

"Um...my worst subject was a 'D' in Divination," Harry winced, "and 'P's in History of Magic and Astronomy. I got 'E's Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, Charms and Transfigurations. My 'O's were in Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"What classes are you going to take in sixth year?"

"Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Charms, DADA and COMC," Harry answered, "and a new class called Dueling Club. I also have to learn Occulmancy." Carmen nodded,

"Well, we're going to be taught Occulmancy and Leglimancy over the next few years, so we don't need to work on that. We should probably work on the weakest subjects of your next year classes, and the classes you aren't taking next year. You should have an all round knowledge, not just those things you need for your career. Ancient Runes could come in handy, and you may as well learn the others. By tomorrow morning, I'll come up with a schedule for classes." She seemed somewhat hesitant before she spoke again,

"Another thing we probably should work on is emotion-control. Being in a war and duels often involves being able to control your emotions to the point where no-one can sense your true feelings without your permission. Your opponents gain an advantage when they know what can make you feel different things." Harry nodded; he could see the sense in that.

"Is there anything else?" she asked, "if not, I'd better go." Harry stood up as she did, and walked her to the door.

"I'll see you later," she said, as she stepped out of the room, before pausing, "if you're hungry, just snap your fingers and a house elf will appear." Harry nodded,

"Bye."

He shut the door as she left and went to sit down by the fire, thinking over the events of the day.

A.N. OK, Review people! I want to know what happens but I will stop writing if you don't review. (Actually I probably will still write, it's just that you won't see it. Aren't I mean?!) 4th Chapter coming up soon!


	4. Chapter 4 Torturing Harry

**Chapter 4 – Torturing Harry**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past. Any resemblance to real events or places is entirely accidental. (E/N: In other words, anything that is in this story is made up by my dear friend Lady Urquentha. So if you think that she stole one of your ideas, take a hike cause she didn't. Ok that's all I wanted to say. Enjoy that story. It rocks!)

Tara

The answers to your questions are, yes, 9 and no. That means, yes he'll age about 9 years in total (between here and the other place I'm sending him. He'll age physically, but his internal organs won't be affected by those 9 years, meaning he won't have 9 years chopped off his life span. They might notice, they might not, depending what I do. I hope this answers all your questions. Actually, the spy gear idea comes from watching Spy Kids too many times with my brother.

YamiRose:DarkElementalGoddess

Thanks, I like the take on a bit of humor, it livens up reading the reviews. I love the name by the way.

Gohan00

Here you go.

Itty bitty evil ringy of doom

Interesting description. grin

Lady of Masbolle

Thanks, I'm glad you like the chapter. Emrys isn't exactly uncommon in fics, in fact it's used an awful lot, I'm told. So you don't need my permission. People use it all the time, although I only found that out a couple of days ago, when I read some stories with it. Anyway, you're free to use it as you like. Tell me when your story is up, and I'll read it.

Padfootlover719

There are two chapters of training, including this one. The next one is somewhere else, anyway. After that, it's back to the Dursleys and then to Hogwarts!! I plan to do flash-backs anyway. As for the pairings, well, you'll find out soon.

Annoymous - Concerned

No-one is stupid, it's just that Harry wasn't really paying attention in school. I know that Ron didn't either, but he would have had the benefit of being around magic all year round, and living with a wizarding family, so he'd pick up more stuff. Harry doesn't have anyone to give him examples, and he wasn't at his best during his OWLs was he? 'Sides, I like Ron.

Snuffles007

It wasn't meant to move the plot along that much, and it does kind of become essential to the story. I just moved some stuff from the fourth chapter to the third, and so it becomes a chapter in it's own right. I'm glad you like the dragon, I liked it too.

cute-kittycat-in-love

I'm glad you like the story, here's the fourth chapter.

Chapter 4

A year later...

Harry sat bolt upright in his bed, screaming. He was drenched from head to toe in ice-cold water, a smirking Carmen standing beside his bed. He stood up and glared at the girl.

"What was that for?" he demanded in mock anger.

"Well, you wouldn't wake up the normal way, so..." she grinned at him.

"We'll see how you like waking up, completely wet," he muttered spitefully. Carmen smirked again and waggled her finger,

"You've said that for the last twelve months, ever since the first bucket of ice water on you," she teased him, "and not once have I been woken up in the same way." Harry muttered a few curses under his breath, and Carmen laughed softly.

"I'll see you outside in five minutes, Aunt Ingrid's waiting for us," she told him, before hurrying outside.

Still scowling, Harry twirled his wand. Carmen had spent several days teaching him basic cleaning spells such as the one he used now, to clean himself without going into the shower. He followed this up with a spell to make the bed, and then went to change.

Exactly five minutes after Carmen left, Harry stepped out of his room, dressed in a pair of white slacks and a matching white top with gold embroidery on the high collar. He'd soon learnt how to conjure good clothes, and his walk-in wardrobe was now filled with robes and muggle clothes of all descriptions. He wasn't required to wear his uniform normally, only when it was required that others see what he was. He had worn his newer wand-sheath on the inside of his right forearm though, with his wand loaded and ready. His sword, daggers, war-hammer, staff and other weapons were all strapped on his waist and back.

He found Carmen, Ingrid, Gregorio and about fourteen other men and woman in the common room.

"Ah, Harry," Gregorio said, "these are your teachers." Harry nodded, scanning the group intently. The first one, standing near Ingrid, was a well built man of about thirty, with dark brown hair and black eyes. Harry guessed this was the fencing teacher, due to his proximity to Ingrid, his fierce glare at Harry, and Carmen's faces at his back. The reactions of the other teachers ranged from awe and excitement, through indifference, to active dislike, though not to the same level as Donmensic.

"This is Donald Donmensic, who will be teaching you fencing and the art of using a sword," Gregorio confirmed Harry's guess, "and next to him is his wife, Isabella Donmensic, who will be teaching you Occulmancy, Leglimancy and any magic of the mind that you might have." A short, plump blonde woman smiled at him, warmly. Harry guessed that this was a case of opposites attract, as he couldn't think of two people more different.

"Joan Samuelson will be teaching you Archery, while Harold Samuelson will be teaching you knife-throwing," Gregorio continued, gesturing to a couple standing nearby, "hand-to-hand knife combat will be taught by Serenity Church." A tall brunette tossed her dark hair and gave him a broad smile.

"Staff fighting and unarmed combat will be taught by Georgia and Greorge Fresk, respectively," Ingrid continued, "you'll learn Dueling from Devin Roliem, and Transfiguration from his wife, Amalie. You'll learn both magical and muggle Healing from Sandrilene Toren, and Charms from Briar Toren. Defense Against the Dark Arts will be taught by Andrew Church as well. Herbology and Potions are Arabella and Daemon Sebastien's responsibility, while we will be teaching you wandless magic, appearance changing and elemental magic." Harry nodded to each of the teachers in turn.

"Most of your classes will be solo classes, Carmen will join you only for wandless magic, appearance changing, elemental magic, Occulmancy and Leglimancy classes. All the others will be separately," Gregorio informed him, "at least until you catch up with her in the other classes." Harry nodded, although he didn't relish being in a class with Donmensic by himself, there was no saying how much he'd be tortured in there.

"Classes will start today and now. Harry, you're going to fencing first, and Carmen, you're doing archery," Ingrid informed them. Harry gulped, but nodded his acceptance. Donmensic glared at him, and then turned on his heel to storm off towards the training grounds. Harry hurried after him, mentally preparing himself for his first lesson.

Harry was led into the dueling room, and then Donmensic turned to face him.

"Right, Potter, lets see what you can do," he barked. Harry fumbled to draw his sword, as his teacher's sword appeared in his hand like lightning. At last Harry managed to get the blade up, although his arms were already screaming from the effort. This blade was awkward, although not all that heavy, he assumed it was enchanted to match his strength. Donmensic lunged at him, thrusting directly at his heart. Harry swung the sword clumsily, trying to knock it aside. A flick of his teacher's wrists dodged the awkward sword, and it arrived directly in front of his heart. The man sneered,

"You can't even hold a sword properly," he drawled, "you're worthless and weak!" Harry felt his temper rising, how was he supposed to defend himself when he'd never held a sword other then in his second year against the baslisk? With a titan effort, he kept his temper and didn't respond to the jibe. Donmensic looked almost disappointed, before he withdraw his sword.

Donmensic lunged at him again trying to stab Harry in the shoulder. Prepared this time and a bit wiser to his strengths and weakensses, Harry rolled aside. He may not be good at fencing but evasion was his best quality in battle, as he'd always known. Donmensic's next slash was stronger, and Harry dropped to the floor, his blade slipping from his hand as he went. He scrambled to his feet only to have to dodge again as Donmensic bore unbendingly down on him. Each time Donmensic's blade flashed, he avoided it. Even when he was exhausted and ready to drop after only ten minutes of constant dodging, he kept on evading.

Wearying, Harry dropped to the floor as the blade passed over his head. As he returned to his feet, he noticed the sword nearby. On his next dodge, he rolled in that direction and picked it up, thinking that now that Donmensic had seen his dodging skills, he could at least try to fight back. He wasn't about to let himself be intimidated.

His next attempt at blocking achieved it's purpose in knocking aside the attacking blade, although it was as far away from elegant and smooth as was possible. But his arms were already exhausted, he'd never had much upper-body strength, and the training he'd done over the past year had increased his speed and stamina, not his upper-body strength.

Donmensic growled low in his throat, angrily. He hadn't thought that Harry would hold up so well against him. Two more strikes were blocked, but then Harry failed. His sword fell from weak fingers, and Harry dived aside as another blow came, one that would have cut his head off if he hadn't dodged.

He struggled weakly to his feet, determined not to show any weakness to Donmensic. He looked up into his teacher's face, which showed only fury, anger and determination. Harry gulped, this did not bode well for his prospective life-span. The next thrust hit it's target, Harry's shoulder. Harry gasped as the cold metal bit deeply into the muscle and flesh, and then the pain started as blood poured freely from the wound.

Donmensic whipped his sword back and cut down at him again. This time, it slashed through the skin and muscles on his lower forearm of the other arm. Harry was starting to feel faint from blood loss, but Donmensic showed no signs that he was even aware that Harry was injured. Determined not to show weakness by telling him, Harry gritted his teeth and bore the pain silently, endeavoring to dodge and avoid each blow.

Many of the passes went wide, but a number managed to land. Within five minutes, Harry had lost the use of one arm completely, and his other arm was weaker. His upper-body was lacerated with bloody cuts, and he was growing slower and slower, weaker and weaker with each passing second. Harry's eyes widened in fear as the sword descended in an arc towards him. He threw himself to the side, but not quick enough. The blade cut deeply through the side of his leg, revealing the bone inside. As fresh blood poured from it, Harry was overcome by the pain, and collapsed to the floor.

Through blurred vision, Harry saw Donmensic drop his sword, and kneel at his side. He heard his gasp of horror, and then dropped away into darkness.

CHANGE OF POV

"Carmen!" Joan Samuelson exclaimed, as Carmen swayed on her feet. She felt faint and weak, although she didn't remember getting hurt. She sat down with a thump on the floor, feeling ill.

"Are you alright?" Joan exclaimed.

"I feel weak," Carmen murmured, "and dizzy." She felt expert hands check her for injury,

"you're not injured. Come on, I'll take you to the hospital wing." As her eyes shut, she felt a wave of nausea wash over her. She valiantly held it in, as she was levitated into the air. She fought to stay conscious, unaware of her surroundings and what was happening.

Suddenly, coolness penetrated her skin and body, spreading outwards from her head. She found the dizziness vanishing, soon followed by the nausea and weakness. She opened her eyes to find herself lying on a bed and looking up into her Aunt's worried eyes. It was her hand that was on her forehead, and she could feel the healing and coolness emanating from her.

"What happened?" Ingrid asked. Carmen shrugged,

"I don't know. I just suddenly felt ill and weak, like I was losing blood quickly," she answered honestly, before it suddenly dawned on her, "Harry!" She leaped from the bed, Ingrid's hand falling away. She stood still for a moment, fighting back the nausea and weakness that swept over her without Ingrid's hand there. Ingrid gasped, realizing what Carmen meant.

"What?" Joan asked.

"Harry," Carmen answered, as she hurried off unsteadily, "he's the reason I feel so weak." Ingrid ran out of the Wing, hurrying towards the Dueling Room.

Carmen was the first to burst into the Dueling Room, and spot Harry lying on the floor, covered in blood. Donmensic was kneeling at his side, trying to heal him. Carmen gasped, feeling green, and the contents of her stomach were soon on the floor. Ingrid was only seconds behind her. The moment she entered, she saw the boy lying on the floor, and was at his side in a flash.

Carmen was feeling slightly better now, and could concentrate on what was happening in front of her.

"...could you be so careless, Donmensic!" Ingrid was shouting. Carmen winced, her aunt only used last names when she was angry or upset.

"There's no way you didn't notice what you did to the boy," Ingrid spat.

"Um...Aunt Ingrid, shouldn't be get Harry to the Hospital Wing before you yell at him?" Carmen asked, tentatively. Interrupting Ingrid Cortez was _never_ a good idea. Ingrid spared her only a glance, before nodding, and casting a couple of basic healing charms to stop the blood flow. She gently levitated the boy, and guided his prone body out of the room.

Carmen hurried along behind them, shooting glares at Donmensic in between fits of retching. The smell of blood combined with the nausea made her continually throw up. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, and then the nausea went away again. Turning around, she found her uncle standing beside her, protecting her from the illness. She knew he'd used Occulmancy to protect her mind against recognizing the illness as a real illness.

The nurse was bustling around Harry by the time Carmen got to the Wing. Ingrid had brought Donmensic out into the corridor, and was shouting.

"You nearly killed the boy, Donmensic," she snarled, "if Carmen hadn't felt his pain, we might not have known until it was too late." Donmensic opened his mouth, but was cut off by Gregorio,

"if nothing else, you should have gotten help or called for one of us," he said quietly, his voice laced with disappointment and sadness, "that's why we have the connections, so that we can aid each other."

"The amount of blood he lost could have been fatal," Ingrid continued, "you could have killed a sixteen-year-old boy out of hatred of his fame." Carmen stepped away from Gregorio, as Harry was healed. She no longer felt ill, the healing done on Harry was enough to prevent it from leaking over.

"If you can not keep your personal thoughts and feelings to yourself and no let them influence your teaching, however wrong they may be, then you are not fit to be a teacher," Gregorio turned and walked into the wing. Ingrid looked at him with deep disappointment,

"I didn't know that you would go as far as to attack a boy on his first fencing lesson." Donmensic opened his mouth, but was silenced by Ingrid,

"I don't want to hear it. We'll talk about further arrangements later. You may leave." She turned and walked into the wing. Carmen watched Donmensic's shoulders droop, and then he left the ward. That last part had hurt him the most no doubt, hearing that from the woman that he fancied.

Carmen entered the wing again, and watched. Harry looked so pale and weak, lying there. He was sleeping, his wounds healed and his leg bandaged. Ingrid was seated at Harry's bedside, watching him. Gregorio stood behind his wife, his hands on her shoulders. Carmen slowly approached the bed, and perched on the edge of it. She looked down at the pale face, and felt worry constrict her heart. She was somewhat startled at that revelation of her emotions. She was fond of Harry, very fond, she now knew. Before, she'd been his friend, and she'd liked him as a friend. Now, she wasn't quite sure. She was his friend, yes, but there was something more as well. Something close to the affection she felt for her aunt and uncle. Her gaze traveled up to her family. Ingrid had worry and sadness creased into every line of her forehead and young face, and Carmen could see the tears clouding her eyes. Carmen was somewhat surprised that her aunt, the one that could normally control her emotions, felt such deep affection for the boy, and that she would let it show. Gregorio's face also displayed worry, but also confidence that Harry would pull through it. Carmen smiled wryly as she brought her attention back to the boy on the bed. Without her meaning to, her hand drifted to settle lightly on his leg.

"Come, Ingrid, we need to go," Gregorio murmured softly. Ingrid nodded, and paused. She leant over and pressed her lips lightly to his forehead, before standing and quickly leaving the wing. Carmen stared after her normally calm and unruffled aunt, mouth open slightly in amazement. Gregorio took one last look at Harry, before turning and walking out of the wing, after his wife.

After a few moments, Carmen took the seat beside Harry's bed. She saw the empty goblet beside his bed, and realized he'd been given a sleeping potion to help his body recuperate from the shock. She looked down at him for a moment, a wry smile on her face. He seemed to have the worst experiences possible, between Voldemort and his teachers. She'd learnt all about his first five years at Hogwarts, each year with more then one experience he'd have preferred not to have.

Harry's eyes slowly opened, and then they snapped shut again as the light hit them. He groaned, as he carefully opened them again, and sat up. He was in the Hospital wing of the Time Wing. He sent his thoughts back through time, trying to remember why he was in there. The memories hit him in a flash, the fencing lesson...Donald Donmensic...the pain. Harry shuddered at the memory, and looked down, to find himself completely healed. The nurse was by his sides moments after he awoke,

"Well, Lord Gryffindor, you certainly landed yourself in danger this time," she remarked, "you were out for four hours. Lady Cortez asked me to inform you that you have the rest of the day off from lessons to recover fully." Harry smiled up at her,

"I'm fine, can I go?" The nurse frowned at him,

"Let me check you once more." She waved her wand, and a white light scanned his body.

"You're fine, you can go," she looked at him sternly, "but if you feel any pain, stiffness or aches, you come straight back here!"

"Yes, ma'am," Harry agreed, eager to get out. The moment she stood back, he hopped out of the bed and rushed out of the wing.

He hurried back into his room, determined to read up on the different weapons. He wasn't going to let anyone catch him off guard again. As he thought about what had happened, he felt anger surge within him. Even Snape had never gone as far as to hurt him that badly. The worst he'd gotten from Snape was a detention and loss of house points, neither of which were as bad as being cut to ribbons. As he told the bookcase what he wanted, he suddenly realized how strange and unlike him this was. He was starting to rely on the bookcase as much as Hermione had, he'd never gone straight from the Hospital Wing to reading. But this time he had a reason, it'd prevent him from being ripped to shreds again. Harry picked up the first book, 'A Guide to Fencing; For Beginners'. He settled down on the couch to read.

Harry looked up, grinning, as the door opened and Carmen stepped in. She smiled at him,

"Hi, Harry."

"Hi," he returned, setting the book aside.

"I'm sorry about Donmensic, I'd have said something if I thought he'd do that," she burst out, unable to keep it in anymore. Harry blinked at her,

"It wasn't your fault," he reminded her, "you did warn me that he wasn't very nice, and I already knew he didn't like me."

"How?" Carmen demanded.

"When I awoke the first day, it was to Ingrid arguing with him about whether I should be there or not," Harry explained, "besides, I'm fine now. Can we drop the subject, please." Carmen sat down beside him on the couch,

"Okay. So, what are you reading?" Harry showed her the title.

"A fencing book?" she asked him, "you can't learn fencing from a book, you know."

"I know, but it could give me a few pointers to keep me from embarrassing myself like that again," he told her. She nodded slowly,

"true. But you'd need practice more then anything else," she pointed out, "and, none of the other teachers will be this bad. Most of them will be easy on you, for the moment at any rate." Harry smiled,

"I've got seven years to master everything I can," he told her, "I'll need all the help I can get."

"Well, if you get your sword, I'll show you a few basic stances," Carmen offered, "not more then that, because you should take it easy today, but it'll get you started. You don't have him for another two days, so if we practice hard at night, you might be able to hold the sword properly by the next class." Harry nodded eagerly,

"there are potions we can take that will effectively give us a full nights rest in one hour, right? We can use those."

"They're addictive and dangerous," Carmen protested.

"It's only until I can survive a class without being killed," Harry told her.

"It takes only two months of use each night before we're addicted," Carmen reminded him, "it'll take more then two months before you can survive against Donmensic." Harry shrugged,

"so we do five weeks of use, one week of no use. We'll be fine. If I need to, I'll do it by myself," he threatened.

"Alright, alright," Carmen grumbled, "I'll do it. But you're taking the responsibility."

"Sure," Harry agreed eagerly, "I'll get started on the potion tonight."

A/N: There, Chapter 4 is finished. I hope you like this, and please, please review! I think the bit at the end was a nice twist, that'll come in handy later. My Editor doesn't like this part, but I over-ruled her. evil grin (E/N: Ok I just think that Harry would be more responsible after everything that he's been through. But the writer is does write the story so I can have and opinion but she might not do it (pouts it's not faaaaiiiirr! sobbing and pounding the floor coughs ignore everything I just did sheapish laughter and the story will be good either way.)


	5. Chapter 5 Classes

**Chapter 5 – Classes**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past. Any resemblance to real events or places is entirely accidental.

REALbluelightsaber – nice name. And thanks for such a long review. I thought making Harry an elf would be a _bit_ too cliché, but he'll have some interactions with the elves. At the moment I cant think of any, but I'll let u know. If u want elf stories, try The Dragonmasters. The elves are slightly bad guys, but it's a good story. I've taken ur advice, and described only one class of each subject. This was one of the hardest chapters to write. I hope the rush of current updates is good enough.

Lady Of Masbolle – Thanks for the fencing offer, but I think I'm okay. I don't really need to describe all that much, I think, so I'll be fine. Yes, I listen to music as well.

David M. Potter - I know that, but I don't want to describe every single exercise session he has, so I'm skipping most of them.

TamiRose:DarkElementalGoddess - I was a bit hyper, I suppose. Sorry 4 the long wait, but we (my editor and I) have been swamped with work lately

Gallandro-83 - Glad ur interested

Chapter 5

Harry shook out his hands and wrists as he watched the arrow speeding at the target. As he heard the loud thunk of it's impact, he smiled. He'd been doing archery for ten months now, and could hit a stationary target 6 out of 10 times, at a range of about 200 feet, although not in the bullseye. Joan smiled at him,

"Good work, Harry," she praised him. Harry grinned again, as he leaned down to draw another arrow. He set it to the string, and pulled it back to his ear. Setting his stance, he aimed and loosed. It cut high into the air, falling in a wide arc to strike the second ring of the target.

"Right, now, you're aiming slightly off," Joan stood behind him, and adjusted his positioning, "try again." Harry pulled another arrow back, aimed at the point she'd shown him, and fired. This time, the arrow flew straight and true, colliding for the first time with the bulls-eye. Harry's eyes lit up, finally he'd hit the bulls-eye.

"I see you've finally figured out to aim," a voice drawled from behind him.

"And good morning to you to, Carmen," Harry replied without turning around, setting a fourth arrow to the string.

"Morning," Carmen greeted Joan with a warm smile, "...Harry, you're aiming too high!" Without looking at her, Harry shot off the arrow, and smirked as it hit the edge of the target,

"I'm not incompentant, Carmen," he told her, over his shoulder.

"Sure could have fooled me," she retorted. Harry didn't respond, as he walked over to collect the arrows.

His knife-throwing class was in the same place as archery, this time with knives. Harry drew his arm back and flicked his wrist. The dagger in his hand shot forward, aiming at the target. He grimaced as it missed the edge of the target by an inch, tumbling to the ground beyond it. He threw the next one at the target, and swore heatedly under his breath as it missed again. Even though he'd been training for months, ten actually as it had been that many months since the teachers arrived, he was still only hitting the target 1 out of 10 times. Harold sighed,

"Come on, Harry. Just aim slightly further to the left," he said, "and you'll hit the target." This time, when Harry threw, it went far off to the other side of the target. His shoulders slumped, as he admitted to himself what his weakness was. He couldn't throw a dagger at all.

"It's kind of surprising, since it's all about hand-eye co-ordination, which you have from being a Seeker," Harold mused, "well, within the next six years, you have to be able to hit the target regularly. And you'll only do that with practice!" Groaning, Harry tossed another dagger at the target.

Harry crouched as he circled his opponent, a knife in each hand. He kept his eyes trained on Serenity Church's chest, the part of the body that most accurately telegraphed the next move. He dodged left to avoid a slash and then shot forward with a cut of his own. He was far better at hand to hand combat then long-range fighting, he had the reflexives and speed for close combat but they were of no use to him in long-range.

He ducked and rolled to avoid a series of rapid thrusts, and then jumped to his feet again. The first five months of his training in most of his physical subjects had been mainly building up his speed, stamina, strength and reflexes, as well as learning basic gymnastic-style movements that could be used in fighting. He'd learned to roll from a standing or sitting position, to come to his feet from his back in seconds, how to fall without hurting himself and other such things. The last four months had been learning actual fighting, as well as some rather underhanded tricks that could help him.

Adjusting his grip on the blades slightly, Harry continued circling, warily eyeing Serenity. As her foot lashed out in a circle, intended to knock his feet away from underneath him, he leaped into the air. Moments after he'd landed, he slashed at her, causing her to step back quickly to avoid the dagger. A sharp flick of his wrist cut through her sleeve, but then he dropped quickly to avoid the next jab at him. As he rose to his feet, he felt wetness on the side of his face. One look at Serenity's face told him that she'd drawn first blood. With a sigh, he drew his wand and flicked it, murmuring a cleaning and antiseptic charm. He felt it sting, showing the spell had done his work, and then healed it with another spell.

"When you drop, remember to make sure you don't drop onto the blade," Serenity told him, smiling, "you scraped your cheek on the blade when you fell." Harry nodded, readying himself for another bout against her. She too dropped into a ready position,

"Ready?" At his nod, she attacked.

Harry shifted his hands on the long length of wood in his hands. He closed his fingers firmly around the wood and looked up confidently. His eyes widened, and he slammed the staff upwards, blocking a potentially fatal knock on his collar bones. He twisted his staff and slammed forward with one metal shod end. He heard his teacher's breath leave her lungs in a whoosh as the metal connected solidly with her stomach. Harry didn't have time to gloat that he'd gotten her though, as he was forced to block a side strike almost instantly.

The two of them exchanged furious blows and strikes, dodging and blocking as they went. There was only one muggle weapon that he was better at then the staff, which was the sword. His main strength was the sword, followed by the staff, and then the glaive. After that went knife combat and unarmed combat, and then last of all were archery and knife throwing. Of course, his very best method of fighting was dueling.

Thunk! Harry danced aside as Georgia's staff hit the wooden floor, and took the opportunity to get in a good swing. It was blocked hurriedly, and Harry struck again. He blocked to the left, and followed it quickly with a swing. Harry thrust forward, and didn't see the staff descending from above him.

He felt something impact heavily with his forehead, before the pain made him gasp and he toppled over backwards. As he lay there on his back, the world swam before his eyes and little stars swirled above his head. When his vision cleared, he saw Georgia standing over him, shaking her head in amusement. Harry rolled his eyes, and carefully climbed back to his feet. The world spun for a moment, but then settled.

"Never concentrate so hard that someone could sneak up on you, or do a surprise attack," she warned him, "ready to go again?" Harry nodded grimly, settling his grip again and lashed out. Their staffs met with a loud crack, and the battle continued.

Harry rubbed his sore fist, and sighed. He'd been working on his punches today, and even after ten months, punching a solid stone rock hadn't gotten much easier.

"Come on, Harry, it's not that hard," George sounded amused, "if you keep trying, it'll get easier." Harry muttered some rude words under his breath, but obediently took up his stance again. He balled his fists, and then his fist lashed out, as the air left his lungs in a yell. Thump! The sound of the flesh meeting rock echoed around the clearing where he was practicing. He glared at the rock that was so devastating to his hand, and soundly wished it was gone.

Unfortunately for him, the rock didn't concede to his wishes, and he found himself spending the next several minutes punching it. By the end of it, it felt like his hands were about to fall off. He grumbled under his breath about teachers who liked causing pain. George laughed,

"but if we didn't, you'd miss it." Harry had to admit it was the truth; he was so used to having to deal with pain in these classes that it would be strange if there was no pain. He glared at his teacher, who presented him with a thick wooden board. Taking it, Harry balanced it on two rocks.

He took a deep breath, lifted his hand, and slammed it down with a yell. The board cracked and splintered to Harry's satisfaction, and went quite a way to restoring his good humor. He loved hearing the boards crack, it was so satisfying. It convinced him of his own strength; that perhaps he stood a chance of winning this war; that he might not get his friends killed. Both friends that were at the moment completely unaware of their danger and friends who were training or trained in the fighting arts.

Harry could almost see why people turned dark. He imagined that the thrill of power that torture gave them was the equivalent of Harry's thrill at a breaking board. He personally didn't like torture, either receiving it or dealing it out, but he knew that some people would like it. Regardless of his feelings about torture, he wasn't sure if he was right in completely avoiding the dark arts. Studying them would give him the knowledge to counter them, but it'd also give him the knowledge of using them, which he knew would be a great temptation. Carmen herself used minor dark arts often, saying that the magic was not dark or light by itself, but that intent made it so. Harry remembered her exact words when explaining herself to him, 'Magic is magic, the spells themselves have no will and cannot decide what they are used for. Spells are only evil when cast by one who uses them for torture or harm. Spells are only good when cast by one who uses them without causing harm or pain. The killing curse could be used to kill animals quickly and painlessly, or to put people suffering out of their misery if they desired it. The Imperious curse could be used to help people overcome their fears or anxieties. Levitating spells, which are believed to be light spells, could be used for dark purposes if they were used to levitate someone to great heights and then dropped, to plummet to their deaths. A healing spell, another so called 'light' spell, could be used to heal the flesh around something imbedded in it, which could prove fatal or dangerous.'

Harry came back to the present to the sound of George clearing his throat impatiently.

"Oh, sorry," Harry blushed, and concentrated on the task at hand.

Harry took a deep breath as he began the sequence of the most basic pattern dance. Bow...right slash, upper block...left slash...upper block...vertical swipe...right block...vertical swipe...right block...right-to-left diagonal slash...left block...left-to-right diagonal slash...left block...low thrust...low block...low thrust...low block...bow.

He grimaced as he completed it, the vertical swipes had been slightly off. It was the first pattern dance he had learned with the glaive, using only the razor edged point. Within the last four months, he'd advanced from that to a point where he could do much more complicated dances. Nonetheless, regardless of his level, every lesson he had to do every pattern dance he'd learnt this far, with Georgia correcting his mistakes. Georgia was the only one of the teachers, other then Ingrid, who taught him two subjects.

"Alter the angle on your vertical swipes, they were on an angle," Georgia coached, "and your low block was too low." Harry nodded, and prepared to do it again. Bow...right slash, upper block...left slash...upper block...vertical swipe...right block...vertical swipe...right block...right-to-left diagonal slash...left block...left-to-right diagonal slash...left block...low thrust...low block...low thrust...low block...bow.

"Good enough, move on," Georgia told him. Harry nodded again, and continued on with the next pattern dance.

An hour later, he was on the most advanced dance yet. Bow...side block to the right...reverse thrust...duck...roll...low thrust...leg sweep...jump...dodge...upper slash...step back...diagonal slash to the right...low block...chest slash...duck...vertical slash...back handspring...twist and side slash...roll...diagonal slash to the left...high thrust...stomach slash...reverse slash...under-cut...upper slash...jump...side-cut...leg sweep...backwards somersault...step back...bow. Harry was breathing heavily by the end of several rounds of that dance, especially at the high speed that he was expected to do.

As he straightened, his shoulders heaving, Georgia circled him slowly. After a few moments, she barked,

"Fifty sit-ups and eighty push-ups." Without a sound, Harry dropped to the ground and obeyed. He'd soon learnt that sit-ups and push-ups were good for him, even if they were very annoying.

Relieved, Harry sank into the chair when it was time for Transfiguration. Each day, when he got to his magic classes, he was already exhausted. But each day he was less and less exhausted. Originally, he'd been nearly dropping, but now he could stay awake long enough to complete his training for the day.

"Today we're going to start working on human transfiguration," Amalie told him, "transfiguring other humans, that is. Not the Animangus transformation." Harry had already started working on his animangus transformation with Ingrid in his appearance altering classes.

"And so, we begin..."

Half an hour later, Harry was flicking his wrist at Gregorio, who had volunteered for the duty. Harry was concentrating hard on the image of a large monkey, which would be one of the easiest forms to change a human into. The more different the animal was from the native state, the harder it was to transform them. Each time he cast the spell, one or two aspects of Gregorio changed, but he'd never managed to fully complete the transformation. Gregorio currently had a tail and two ape hands, but other then that was completely normal. It did make him look ridiculous, something he wasn't very pleased about. Harry wasn't sure if he'd actually volunteered, or if he'd been forced into it. He was beginning to think that Ingrid and Carmen had had something to do with it, due to Gregorio's dark mutterings about his wife and niece.

In Healing class, Harry found himself staring down the arm of an enchanted dummy. There were dummies that were enchanted to look, sound, act and physically be like humans in everything, and Harry practiced on these, in case he messed up. This dummy's arm was sliced upon, and blood poured from it. It wasn't made any easier by the dummy's yells and screams. Harry twirled his wand over the wound,

"Exonero," he muttered. The dummy's screams died away, due to the pain-relieving spell Harry had cast.

"Perpurgo!" he hissed, trying to block out the sounds. His wand glowed blue, and Harry watched the spell clean away dirt and grime from the wound.

"Suo suere sui sutum," he muttered next, waving his wand, "adnecto." The wound was suddenly bound together by minute threads of skin and sinew, and then completely healed over. Sandrilene bent over his work, examining it carefully.

"Very good Harry, nice and neat," she agreed, "no scar left." Harry smiled in relief, he was going reasonably well in this, although healing didn't seem to be his forte. As a number of his teachers had commented, he was remarkably adept at dealing out dangerous injuries, but as for healing them again, he'd die first. Carmen was the exact opposite, while she could fight, she was far far better at healing than he was. She could heal broken limbs and severe internal injuries with a mere wave of her wand and a few words. She was better even then Madame Pomfrey, who Harry had always thought a miracle with healing, even if she was too mother-hennish with her patients. Harry sighed, as he watched Sandrilene create another injury on the dummy for him to heal. This was absolutely no fun.

"We're going to start practical apparition today," Briar informed him. Harry grinned, he'd looked forward to this ever since he'd found out they'd learn it.

"But there are anti-apparition wards all over this place," Carmen argued. She was joining Harry for the moment, while they were doing apparition. Briar nodded,

"but they have been taken off the training chambers for today," he explained, "although later, when you know how, you two will be able to get through wards without any trouble, because of your Valeru blood."

He led them through into the forest room, and turned to face them.

"Now, apparition," he began, "is a very dangerous magical art. It involves disappearing from one place, and reappearing almost instantaneously in another. Often a soft 'pop' is heard, which is the sound of displaced air. But you can train to appear and disappear without that sound, which we must do as well." Harry nodded.

"The first thing we need to find is your private incantation," he explained, "private incantations normally reflect your feelings, strengths and purpose in life. These private incantations are why most wizards can't apparate someone else without their consent, as everyone has their own private incantation that will allow them to apparate. Some of the most powerful wizards and witches had proved to be able to apparate with unwilling or even outright fighting people. In this century, there have been only three people who can do so, Tom Riddle and Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez."

"Start by shutting your eyes and casting the spell 'commonstro ipse evanidus appareo defigo' on yourself like this," Briar demonstrated, "and think the words loudly in your head at the same time. You should hear a voice saying your password." Harry followed the wand movement as he shut his eyes,

"Commonstro ipse evanidus appareo defigo," he said, both aloud and silently. A voice spoke in his head,

"Defend unto death," it whispered, and words appeared on the inside of his eyelids, written in fire, 'Life does not exist without love'. Harry opened his eyes, puzzled as to why words had appeared on his eyelids, not to mention why those specific passwords had been chosen.

"I got a voice and words written in fire," Harry said slowly, "what does that mean?" Briar looked thoughtful,

"I'm not sure, although I think Lady Cortez mentioned that she had words as well. You'll have to ask her. For now though, merely use the words you heard." Harry nodded, mentally noting that.

"Now, you'll start by imaging the place where you want to be, and then put yourself there," Briar explained, "then you'll think or say your incantation. Pour your power into the will to be there." Harry looked across the clearing, and clearly imagined the clearing and then put himself there,

"Defend unto death," he whispered under his breath. He willed himself to be across the clearing, as he squeezed his eyes shut and poured his strength into the command. He felt a cool sensation washing over him for a moment, and then it vanished. Tentatively opening his eyes, Harry grinned. He'd succeeded in getting to the other side of the clearing. He watched as Carmen vanished with a loud crack and reappeared beside him, just as nosily.

"Well done!" Briar cried, "on your first try too." Harry shot Carmen a broad grin, and the two of them exchanged looks. They vanished and reappeared behind Briar, as Carmen drew her wand. A flick of her wrist conjured a bucket of water above Briar, who had only just noticed their disappearance, as the sound had taken longer to reach him.

He turned around, drenched and glaring.

"What was that for?" he demanded. The two teenagers traded looks and shrugged,

"we felt like it?" they chorused, before Carmen dissolved into laughter. Scowling at the two of them, Briar dried himself off with a quick spell.

Harry bowed politely to his teacher and then lifted his wand. He was in Dueling Class, and therefore, he dueled the teacher.

"Begin," Devin snapped, "Petrificus Totalus!"

"Protego," was the first spell Harry uttered, shielding himself, and then followed up with an offensive spell, "stupefy!"

"Adlido!" Devin said clearly, and a bolt of blue light shot from his wand. Harry dodged,

"Conglutino!" Harry returned.

"Expelliarmous!"

"Obscuratio!"

"Lumière!"

"Engourdi!" Harry blocked the spell sent at him, and then gasped as he heard the next spell,

"Difflo!" It was dark arts, major dark arts. It was meant to blow apart the person who was hit by it, and was fatal. Harry gritted his teeth, it was going to be hard to fight dark with light.

"Aquilo!" he called. Wind spun in a circle to rush at Devin, which he struggled to deflect, as Harry used the opportunity to continue his attack,

"Terrae motus! Grando!" The earth shook beneath Devin, and small hail stones bumped against the shield he had up. The hail stones wouldn't kill, only disarm or hurt slightly. It was getting quite close to the Dark Arts line though.

"Tarantallegra,"

"Aveugle!"

"Frapper!" Harry was too busy paying attention to keeping the earth shaking and wind whirling, and didn't see the final spell that would end the duel.

"Stupefy!" He felt the spell too late as it broke through his shield, and he ended up stunned on the floor.

When he was revived, Harry shook his head in disappointment.

"No, Harry, you did very well for someone of your age, especially without formal dueling training and using only the so called 'light' arts," Devin told him, "however, if you wish to be truly prepared and ready to face opposition in the real world, I would suggest you study the dark arts as well. Know every spell that Death Eaters might use, both how to use them and how to defend against them, and you will never be taken by surprise. They might also come in handy when you're surrounded or when your life is at stake." Harry nodded, he was starting to study minor dark arts, although he had yet to actually try any of the offensive spells, just the defensive ones.

"And always pay attention to what is happening around you," Devin reminded him, "never become so entangled in keeping a spell going that you are unaware of the world around you." Harry nodded, he'd certainly learnt that folly today.

"Now, shall we do another round?"

Harry carefully ground up the beetle eyes, and measured out the required amount. He poured it into the bubbling cauldron, and stirred three times counter-clockwise. Next he began shredding the daisy petals, and put them in a cup as well. When the cup was full he slowly tipped them in, stirring constantly in a counter-clockwise direction. He watched the nearly completed potion simmer, waiting for it to change color.

He was brewing an invisibility potion from an ancient Egyptian text. Few people knew of the text's existence, as most of them were lost or destroyed at some point. It was a potion that would turn you invisible for 6 hours, or until you drank the antidote. To turn invisible only took a single mouthful of potion about thirty seconds. It was a long and complicated potion, one of a level that normally only Potion Masters would attempt. Daemon had decided that Harry had to learn to brew complex potions that could be of help to him, and had left the potions he'd study at Hogwarts alone.

The text from which the spell was gotten had been written in Ancient Egyptian, and so had to be translated into English for him. There were translation spells he could have used, a number of different ones in fact. One worked for only a few hours, but allowed the drinker to perfectly understand both written and spoken words in that language instantly without reperussions or side affects while it lasted. The other type, a dark arts potion, taught the drinker the language, at the price of considerable pain while the knowledge was being absorbed, and then the drinker could speak and read only that language for 24 hours. But neither of these were deemed sufficient, and so every text book was charmed to have both the native tongue and English in it.

It had included potions such as disguising potions, endurance potions, drug potions, sleeping potions etc. all of which had been very potent and dangerous. But Harry was being taught them because they were likely to come in handy during the war, and they trusted him to be extremely careful with how many or what he took. As it was, he was taking several endurance potions from another text per day, with his teachers' knowledge. He'd long since stopped taking the potions for one nights sleep in one hour, but he still took endurance potions. Originally he'd taken them to keep awake during class, but now he took them so he rotated on a 48 hour day, instead of 24. Each month, he reduced his intake of endurance potions, as his body adjusting to running on that schedule. By the end of the second year, he was supposed to be doing the 48 hour rotation naturally.

Harry carefully transferred the screaming mandrake into the new pot, and smothered it with dirt and soil quickly. His ears were muffled by the ear muffs, but he could still see the screaming mandrake. He didn't like Herbology as much as the other subjects, as it got quite boring for him. He liked being on the go and moving around a lot, actually doing something. Herbology and Potions were the two things where he wasn't moving around much, and consequently were less interesting. At least in Potions, he was actually brewing something. Herbology, to him, was just like gardening, which he did enough of at Privet Drive.

Harry pointed his wand steadily at a shadow on the floor,

"Expecto Patronum!" His old memories for this spell had been his friends and Quidditch, but now he chose a different memory. The feeling he felt when Carmen, Ingrid and Gregorio had given him gifts for his birthday. It was pure, unadulterated happiness. He didn't know what it was, but there was a difference between being with his friends and being with the three of them. Something in it made him extremely happy and comfortable.

Instead of the usual silver stag, a bright gold cougar appeared. There were differences between this and a normal cougar, this one had long fangs and claws, clearly meant for shredding. It charged at the shadow, and Harry watched as the Lethifold on the floor was ripped apart. He turned to Andrew in wonder,

"how...?"

"Emotion magic changes depending on what you memories you summon up," Andrew explained, "and the level of emotion and power felt at the time of the memory and the moment of casting." So a cougar symbolized Carmen, Ingrid or Gregorio, and the emotion was a lot stronger. Harry guessed it was Carmen, as the cougar was one of her animangus forms. They all had four different forms, including Harry. As the cougar faded, Harry tried again,

"Expecto Patronum!" This time a bright gold unisus appeared, with a razor sharp horn. Harry frowned, it had been the same memory, but this time the unisus was Ingrid. A third attempt brought out a tiger for Gregorio, but the fourth try was a cougar again.

"Your chosen memory must be very strong, and very diverse," Andrew remarked. Harry nodded as he sighed, why did he always have to be different?

Harry concentrated hard on his hand. He was working on wandless conjuring today, which meant he had to try and conjure a whole range of items without his wand. He'd managed to conjure simple things like paper, quills and ink pots, but was struggling with a golden goblet.

Wandless magic itself was magic performed without a wand. It was harder because there was nothing to focus the magic except strength of will, but was a lot more powerful because there was no wand to drain magic from the spell. It was also easier once you got the hang of it, because you didn't have to use as much magic. But while you were learning it, it was far harder then wand magic. But it had rich rewards, mainly in the fact that even if you lost your wand in a duel, you weren't defenseless. Wandless magic was sometimes accompanied by a spoken or thought incantation or small gesture, but not always. They made it easier, but were more noticeable. Harry was being taught to do it without incantations or gestures, because it would be easier for him to keep it from being noticed that way. He wasn't even allowed to think the incantation, only see a vision of what he wanted.

He formed an image in his mind of what he wanted and sent his power through the image and to his hand. He felt his fingers warming slightly, and then slowly, a golden goblet began to form on the table. It was a slightly odd shape, but was unmistakably a goblet. He grinned triumphantly.

"Now try for something a little larger, like a small table," Ingrid told him. Harry nodded, and began constructing it in his mind. When he was complete, he passed his magic through it, and gritted his teeth as he watched it form before him. He'd get faster eventually, as he practiced. Now it took him up to a minute to go from the beginning of planning to the final product, but eventually it'd all be done in the time it took to snap his fingers.

Harry sat on the floor, with a text book open to a picture of a phoenix. He shut his eyes, and poured his mind, heart, soul, magic and will into the image of a phoenix in his mind. The phoenix that he thought of, though, was white and gold instead of red and gold. When he'd taken the potion meant to show him his animal forms in his sleep, he'd seen a white and gold phoenix. He'd been trying for several months now, but still couldn't get past covering himself in feathers.

Harry's own animangi forms were four, only one of which was magical, which was the phoenix. Carmen, likewise, had four forms, one being the cougar. Her cougar was blue and platinum, completely unreal. Ingrid had four as well, one of which was the unisus. A unisus was a winged unicorn, normally white. But Ingrid was a black unisus with a silver horn. One of Gregorio's four animal forms was a red and bronze tiger. All of them, though, once in their animal forms could or would be able to change their coat colors to the color of a normal one of their species at will.

Harry opened his eyes, and found himself covered in white and gold feathers, but otherwise unchanged. Sighing, he shut his eyes and began again.

Harry sighed. He was sitting on the forest floor, surrounded by piles of books. Each and every book was about fire, fire spells and fire elementals. In this class he was basically on his own, as none of the others could help him. He was a Fire Elemental, and they knew of no other fire elemental. Ingrid, Gregorio and Carmen were all elementals, but not of fire. Ingrid was an Air-Elemental, Gregorio was an Earth Elemental and Carmen was the Water-Elemental. He had to muddle his way through by himself, with the occasional input from the others.

Over the last ten months, Harry had learnt to access his fire powers and summon a ball of flame in his hand without burning himself. He could also change it's size and shape. He was currently trying to find out how to create a pillar of fire that could survive on water. The elements summoned by an elemental were could be unharmed by the other elements if the elemental wished it. He knew that eventually he could do whatever he wanted with the element, even up to summoning an elemental guardian.

Harry lifted his hands and concentrated on a bare area of our ground, and called the fire. A ball of fire appeared in his hands, and grew larger and larger. He threw it forward, commanding it to become an immense column without burning anything else. He quickly cancelled the command as the leaves on the nearby trees lit up in flame. He swore under his breath as he hurriedly conjured water to douse the fire. Muttering, Harry began again.

"Breathe in...breathe out...breathe in...breathe out..." a soft female voice murmured. Harry obeyed, his eyes shut. He emptied his mind of all thought, and let himself go. He floated away from the cares of the world, away from the burden on his shoulders. He relaxed, and felt his mind open up to the world around him. He could feel Isabella beside him, her mind seeming relaxed and calm. As he drew in information from further away, he sensed Carmen, her mind full of determination mixed with exhaustion. Near her was the male Donmensic, whose mind was determined and filled with dislike. Further away, he sensed the presences of each of his teachers, and their emotions. He let himself float, just absorbing the information he was learning.

Finally he brought himself back into his body. He was learning to control one of his private powers, empathy. He could sense other people's emotions and dominant thoughts if they couldn't do Occulmancy. At the moment he had to be in a quiet place and meditating, but eventually he was supposed to be always open to reading other people, but with his inner shields up against mind-intrusion. He'd already mastered Occulmancy, and was going to learn Leglimancy.

The empathy gift he had was private to him; none of the others had it. It would come in handy when dealing with people and the press; he wouldn't make the same sort of mistakes as he had with Cho. But it could also lead to his downfall if he wasn't careful. If he didn't have his shields up and wasn't very careful, the emotions of the people around him could overwhelm him. Empaths often had problems with being in large crowds or group, especially untrained but powerful ones. When he left here, he was expected to be able to survive in large crowds without showing outward strain.

A/N: Chapter 5 completed. The next chapter will contain a little romance perhaps, and probably his last few days there. You'll see a new Harry as well. I am sorry about the long wait, but I hope this rush of chapters will make up for it.

E/N: This story is the best and if you don't like it your crazy (just kidding! Everyone had his or her own taste.) If you don't get anything leave a review and if Lady doesn't have time to answer it I will, Kay? REVIEW PEOPLE!!!!!


	6. Chapter 6 End of the Stay

**Chapter 6 – End of the Stay**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past. Any resemblance to real events or places is entirely accidental.

**Telepathic Speech**

Chapter 6

Harry looked at himself in the mirror, a wry smile on his lips. He'd changed a lot in the past eight years he'd spent in the Time Wing. His black hair was now shoulder length, and pulled back into a pony tail, out of his face. His scar was now revealed to all, not hidden by his hair. It was very light now, almost invisible against his skin, due to the fact that he'd had only one nightmare per year here, and each time he was woken up quickly. It had bled once, the first year he arrived. His emerald green eyes were sparkling and full of life, often mischievous. Between Carmen and himself, they'd caused an awful lot of havoc. But his eyes did contain a deep sadness that would never fully go away, but was only visible to those who knew him well. His features were different to before, more angular. It was noticeable, but not completely different. His skin was lightly tanned due to the time he spent in the training fields, where the sun acted the same as a normal sun. On the palm of his right hand was a moving white and gold phoenix in mid-flight, normally hidden by an invisibility spell. On his right shoulder was a white Siberian tiger, and on his left shoulder was a bottle-nose dolphin. In the middle of his back there was a moving flame. He remained slim, he'd never become fat, but he had filled out so he didn't look anorexic. He'd also grown quite substantially. He was now 5 ft 10, the normal height for a young man of age 24. There was no way he'd ever be tall, it just wasn't him, but he wasn't going to be the smallest either. His body was well muscled from all the exercise he got, but it was not like a body builder. The muscles were there, but not obvious. He had kept his lithe and light frame that he'd need for Quidditch, if he was still on the team. He wore fitting clothes made of good material that enhanced his body. When he moved, it was with an air of confidence and power that overflowed into everything he did or said. It was very obvious that he was a fighter who knew what he was doing.

He'd spent exactly eight years in the Time Wing, and grown very close to the other occupants of the Wing. He was on first name basis with all of them, including Donald Donmensic, who'd been very apologetic about the whole incident. Donald had only really changed his mind about Harry, when he found out about Harry's life at Privet Drive and his real experiences. That had happened in Harry's fourth year, during one of the visions about Voldemort. He had collapsed in fencing class, and Donald had heard everything he said about Voldemort. Later, going to visit him, Donald had heard a normal nightmare, one of his home life and friends. Ever since then they'd become quite good friends, although his best friends here were by far Carmen, Ingrid and Gregorio. Carmen...Harry smiled softly as his mind traveled back to the fourth year he was here...

FLASH BACK

Harry sighed and rolled his head on his neck as he stretched out. He'd been seated in the library and reading without a break for four hours. He was reading up on the history of Leglimancy, which he was about to start. Carmen was opposite him, but she was studying a book of healing spells. Her lips were constantly moving as she recited the spells under her breath.

Harry watched her for a moment, a small smile on his lips. At some point over the last four years, he'd fallen in love with dark-haired beauty. At least, he thought it was love. His stomach turned over when she smiled at him, and he did everything he could to make her laugh. Her sparkling eyes brightened his mornings whenever he saw them, and she could cheer him up with just being there in the same room as him.

Harry was about to return to studying, when she looked up. Their eyes met across the table, and Harry felt like he couldn't move. He was frozen in place as her blue eyes bore into his green ones. Slowly, Harry's body leaned forward of its own violation. Her body moved towards his, and their lips met. A tingling sensation flowed from his lips to his fingertips and down to his toes, and something inside him clicked. Warmth filled his entire body as they kissed, Harry's hands slid up her back and her arms wound around his neck.

When they released each other, they were staring into each other's eyes. Only now could Harry see the love, desire and care that resided in Carmen's sapphire eyes, and knew his own mirrored those feelings.

"Harry...?" she whispered, "did you mean that?" He knew instantly what she was referring to, the emotions in his eyes. Harry smiled weakly at her,

"yeah." A smile appeared on her lips,

"good." She leaned forward, and kissed him again.

END OF FLASHBACK

That had started their relationship, which had been going steadily since then. Ingrid and Gregorio had been quite pleased with the development as well, with only Gregorio giving him the speech about taking care of his niece. Ingrid had also explained what the tingling and clicking feeling had been; the awakening of a soul-bond. A soul-bond was the bond between two soul mates. It meant they were telepathically connected, and could never fully block the other from their mind. They were meant for each other, and would always sense the other's emotions and feelings.

Harry thought back over what he'd learned in the past seven years of intense training. He could wield both short swords and the long sword with speed and grace and he could fire both the long and cross bow with accuracy and speed. He'd even learned to throw knives and daggers with reasonable accuracy and speed. His hand-to-hand combat was good, as was his unarmed fighting and staff fighting techniques. He could duel well enough to defeat the best, with Devin claiming he could defeat Dumbledore if he tried, and he achieved levels in all of his studies past NEWT level. His wandless magic was at the point where a single thought would work for most spells, and his elemental magic was perfectly under control. He had his empathy down pat, and was able to sense emotions from people around him with ease. His mind was perfectly Occluded, and he could break into a person's mind without them knowing, even someone with basic Occulmancy skills. He had his four Animangi forms completed, and could transform at will. He could apparate through most anti-apparation wards, and his aim was good enough that he could appear within a few inches of his target. Thanks to his bond with Carmen, he could tap into her powers if he tried, and through her, he could tap into Gregorio and Ingrid. He'd discovered that he could speak any language spoken by animals, humans or humanoid beings. He'd also learned to use each of the different muggle and wizarding gadgets that were commonly used by the BSS. Outside of classes, Harry had spent a lot of his time studying by himself, training in magic both ancient and strange.

Harry headed towards the door; it was time for him to leave. Today he wore a white, high-necked shirt, and a pair of golden trousers and matching belt, beneath an open white robe. The robe had golden embroidery along the collar, hem and cuffs of the wide sleeves. Under his clothing, he wore the dragon-hide shirt and leggings he'd been given on his first day. On his feet were the boots he'd been given as part of his outfit, which he'd discovered were lined in dragon-hide. The sleeves of his robes were heavily enchanted to contain, lighten, shrink and hide anything he put into them. A flick of his wrist could call anything from them. Hidden in them were his long sword, two short swords, his quiver, his bow, his war hammer, his staff and his glaive. Strapped to the wand-sheath on his arm was his wand, and strapped to the other arm was a dagger. Another dagger was hidden in each boot, and two more were at his waist. His magical four-foot long staff was transfigured into a ring and worn on his left hand. Beneath all of this, he wore his Valeru jewelry. Over it all was a grey traveling cloak that could be wrapped over him completely, including a hood, and disguised his appearance and clothing. His trunk and Hedwig's cage were shrunk and placed in his pocket for easy carriage. Also going with him was his white lap-top, shrunk and charmed, and all his Valeru clothes, BSS gadgets etc.

Harry left the room, and found Carmen, Ingrid and Gregorio waiting for him in the room outside. Carmen was dressed like him, in the traveling cloak.

"Good morning, Harry," Gregorio greeted him.

"'Morning," Harry responded. As usual Ingrid plunged straight into business,

"You two have a choice now. Harry, you've been gone for exactly eight days from the mortal plane, you can choose to either go back now and face the music, or you can wait," she said.

"If you wait," Gregorio continued, "you will be sent to the Elvish realm, which, like here, is not in the mortal plane. But at the same time, it isn't on one of the other planes. Elvish magic once lifted the entire Elvish kingdom off the mortal plane, and suspended it between the planes. Thus, time is again different. It can be changed and altered, according to the desires of the king. If you go, the king has agreed to speed time up, so that one day in the mortal world is two months there. He has also offered to allow some elves to teach you their ways and customs, including their fighting arts." Harry thought for a moment, thinking about the offer. The elves were another race of magical creatures, humanoid ones. They were reputed to be brilliant in the art of combat, and Harry would definitely love to be able to learn from them. He might even get some actual battle experience.

**Well?** Carmen asked him, silently.

**What do you think?** Harry shot back, as she laughed silently.

"I'm going to the elves," he said eagerly. Ingrid turned to Carmen,

"And you?" Carmen smiled,

"I'm following Harry," she said. Ingrid nodded,

"An elf will come to pick you up in about ten minutes," she informed them, "but in the meantime, we have a couple of gifts for you, Harry." She flicked her wrist, and three packages appeared, one big, one small and one long but thin.

Harry picked up the bigger one first, and carefully unwrapped it. He soon found himself holding a thick leather book, with golden letters proclaiming it's title. He grinned when he read the flowing scripted words, 'The Master Book Of Spells'. When the reader touched the cover and spoke a spell effect out loud, the book would fill itself with every spell with that effect. There were only four books like that in the world; one for Spells, one for Potions, one for plants and herbs, and one for creatures and animals. He knew for a fact that all four were rumored to have disappeared several hundred years earlier, and knew why.

"The BSS took these away from the mortal plane," he murmured.

"Yes, they were too powerful to risk falling into the hands of the dark side," Gregorio explained, "Ingrid has the one on animals, I have the one on plants, and Carmen got the one on Potions this morning."

"Thank you," he said quietly. He picked up the smaller present, about the size of his hand. He opened it, to find a small metal, rectangular case. His eyes widened, and then he smirked. A flick of his wrist sent it spinning through the air to hit the ground. He watched as it grew in size, becoming five wooden doors. Inscribed in letters were five titles, 'Potion Laboratory', 'Herbology Room', 'Training Grounds', 'Apartment', and 'Prison'.

"Thanks," Harry said, as he called it back to his hand, pocketing it. He put the book in his sleeves as well.

"We thought you'd need it both at the Dursleys and at Hogwarts," Ingrid explained, "it'd be hard to keep up your education otherwise."

"I could have used the Phoenix Chamber," he pointed out, "or the Room of Requirement. Not that I don't appreciate it, though."

"But at the Dursleys?" Gregorio inquired, "not to mention that we don't know if other people know about the Phoenix Chamber, or any of the other Founder rooms, besides the Chamber." Harry considered that point,

"Okay."

He took the final present, a white case about fourteen inches long. Lifting the lid, he found a wand inside. It was a piece of slender and elegant deep mahogany, about 12 ½ inches long. Engraved into it was a tiny image of a phoenix in mid-flight, decorated with white and gold jewels. At either end of the wand tiny gems encircled the wand. It was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. As he lifted it from his box, he knew what it was that Ingrid had wanted one of his tail feathers for. A new wand crafted for him, more powerful then normal because of it's attachment directly to him. A wand that could fight against Voldemort, if he wanted to keep his wandless magic secret.

"Thanks," he breathed, sliding his holly wand from it's sheath. He replaced it with his new wand, but slid the old wand into Ginny's wand-sheath at his waist.

Movement at the edge of his vision caught his eye. He whirled around, a dagger flying to his hand in a single movement. When he spotted the cause, he smiled and returned the dagger to it's sheath.

The man standing there was quite tall, about 6ft 4. He had long blonde hair, about waist length, that was pulled back away from his face. His skin was extremely fair and without blemish, accenting his light amethyst eyes. His features gave his face a seemingly ageless look, and his ears were pointed. He wore a long green open robe, heavily embroidered with light green thread on the collar, hem, and cuffs. The sleeves were wrist length, and very wide. It is closed by six buttons from the high collar to the waist. Beneath it was a bright yellow full length robe, this time with green embroidery on the hem, and lightly over the rest of the robe. It had tight sleeves, just visible through the over-robe. Soft green leather shoes were on his feet, and a pair of short swords were crossed over his back.

"Lords and Ladies Valeru?" he inquired in good English. His voice was very musical and soft. At Ingrid's nod, he bowed fluidly,

"I am Lord Golradir of Fentesire. I am here to escort Lord Gryffindor and Lady Hufflepuff to the Realm of the Elves, if they desire?"

"We would like to visit the Realm," Harry informed him.

"Of course, Lord," Lord Galradir bowed again, "are you prepared?" Harry nodded.

"Shall we leave then, my lord, my lady?" At their nods of consent, Galradir reached out and gently laid a hand on each of their arms, before they vanished.

Harry blinked as they reappeared in a forest of towering trees, at the edge of a valley. Soaring up on three sides, with a space of about 30 sq km between them, were immense mountains. But these mountains were green and fertile, with only the very tops being snow covered. As they gazed down the valley, Harry saw only sparkling white buildings, crystal clear lakes and rivers, and the greens of plants and trees. The soft murmur of rivers reached his ears, accompanied by the soft hum of voices in another language and the sound of the wind in the trees. Guarding the entrance to this paradise was a wide river, whose waters were calm and peaceful as they flowed from the mountains, past the entrance to the valley and off into the forest. It seemed very deep as he couldn't see the bottom of the river, and there were four silver boats by the side. Each boat was shaped like a canoe (A/N: Think the Fellowship's boats in LOTR). There was two more boats, similar but different. The silver wood had higher sides, upturned and carved ends and a wooden cage-like apparation on it (A/N: Think Galadriel's boat in LOTR). All in all, the home of the elves was an impressive sight.

Harry was brought rapidly back to his surroundings when a drawn sword appeared, centimeters from his nose. He found himself looking down the metal, into the amethyst eyes of an elf. This elf was clad in dark green trouseurs and a lighter green shirt. Over that went a plate mail hauberk. He was clearly some sort of guard.

"What business have you here?" the elf demanded harshly in Elvish. Harry could understand it only because of his gift with tongues. His companion, who held a blade to Carmen, had turned to Golradir,

"Why have you brought two humans into our forest?"

"They are the Valeru," Golradir informed the two guards, "their presence is sanctioned by the king." The two elves stepped back, sheathing their blades,

"Our apologies, noble lord," they said in unison, in heavily accented English.

"No harm done," Harry brushed it off.

"Come, my lord, my lady," Golradir led them to the boats, and stepped into one of the normal boats, "please step into one of the two Royal Boats." Harry aided Carmen across politely, and then stepped into the boat himself. As they sat down in the cage-like apparation, another elf stepped in after them. He wore an outfit similar to the guard, except without the armor.

The elf picked up a leaf-shaped oar, and pushed off the bank. They were paddled to the other side, and then Harry escorted Carmen out. Golradir was waiting for them there, and led them amongst the buildings.

Harry saw white buildings everywhere, all made of white marble and white stone, of different sizes. But every building had beauty, elegance and grace in every corner and contour. He heard and saw fountains and waterfalls flowing everywhere. He saw many elves looking at them curiously, as they passed, and murmurs rushed around. They were brought to the entrance of a large, single-storey building, and after a quick conversation with the guard, Golradir returned, accompanied by the guard.

"You are not permitted further without surrendering your weapons, mortals," the guard sneered. Harry saw the other elf wince.

"We will hand over our weapons, but be warned, if any touch them, we will not be held responsible for their injuries, elf," Harry said clearly, unclipping his sword sheath. The guard looked enraged at the insult, but Golradir's restraining hand prevented him from doing anything. Harry saw the burning eyes of the elf, and knew he'd just made himself an enemy.

He saw the eyes of the watching elves grow larger and larger as he brought out his weapons, and laid them down. No doubt they had never seen a human with so many weapons before, especially since they didn't know their true identities. After a moment, Harry hesitated, and dropped his wand and magical staff with the rest of the weapons. They did count as 'weapons', even if he himself was a weapon. Somehow he didn't think they'd take very kindly to him standing outside and saying he couldn't enter because he was a weapon.

Carmen stepped up beside him, shooting him a sly smile. Harry linked his arm with her's, and nodded to Golradir. Golradir gestured to the doorkeeper, who pushed one half of the door open. Golradir scowled at him,

"Do you want to answer to the Lord and Lady for that insult?" he said quietly in Elvish. The doorkeeper frowned,

"what insult?"

"The doors," Golradir said patiently, "these guests are nobility." Still frowning, the doorkeeper pushed open the other door. Golradir stepped through the doors,

"His Lordship, Lord Gryffindor of the Valeru, and Her Ladyship, Lady Hufflepuff of the Valeru," he announced. As he did so, Harry and Carmen let their cloaks fall, revealing the robes beneath it. Harry heard the gasps of the elves behind them, before they entered the building.

The room they entered was beautiful. Delicate white pillars rose to the ceiling in elegant curves, supporting a white stone ceiling and on a matching floor. Armed elves stood guard in the hall, normally impassive faces stunned at this new revelation. At the far end of the hall were four glistening thrones, made of white marble bejeweled with either emeralds, sapphires, rubies or diamonds. Seated upon these thrones were four elves. The larger thrones had a male and a female elf. The king was clad in a black and silver diamond brocade inner-robe with a high collar. Over it went a silver outer robe, with billowing sleeves and a turtle-neck collar. Around his brow was a silver circlet adorned with a diamond. The queen's gown was a midnight blue, flowing dress that pooled around her ankles. The upper sleeves were tight, blood red and embroidered lightly with gold and black thread. The lower sleeve was also blood red, but wide and draping. The circular-neck collar was also blood red, embroidered lightly with gold and black. Her silver crown was endowed with a ruby. The prince wore simply a long pale blue tunic and darker blue trousers, beneath an open blue robe. He wore a thinner silver circlet with a sapphire as well. The princess wore a gown the same as her mother, except in bright green for the bodice, white lace for the upper sleeves and again bright green for the lower sleeves. The thin silver circlet had an emerald on it.

Harry and Carmen walked up towards the royal family, and stopped before the thrones. Carmen swept a curtsey, as well as she could wearing a robe, and Harry bowed.

"You are the Valeru Lord and Lady to whom we offered the opportunity to train here?" the queen asked, her voice soft and soothing.

"We are, your majesty," Carmen answered.

"What do you hope to train in here?" the king inquired.

"We hoped to have a chance to train with your elven warriors," Harry replied, "and to learn your language, customs and ways." The queen smiled,

"Of course, all that we will be honored to teach you," she said, "we will talk later no doubt, a set of rooms have been assigned to you as I am told that you are soul-bound?" As she spoke, a female elf appeared by her side. At Harry's nod, the queen turned to the elf,

"Please escort Lord Gryffindor and Lady Hufflepuff to the rooms that were prepared for them," she requested. The elf curtsied deeply, and turned to Harry and Carmen,

"My Lord, my Lady, please follow me." After another bow to the royal family, the two of them headed out of the building, following the girl.

As they passed through the doors, every elf who'd heard the announcement bowed or curtsied. A flick of Harry's wrist sent the weapons back into their hiding places, and covered his robes with the traveling cloak again. Carmen did the same with her own outfit, and they hurried after the elf.

They were brought to an enormous white building several stories high, complete with a balconies and flying a flag. It was obviously the royal palace. The elf opened the main doors, and let them walk in.

"Lord, Lady, this is the royal palace," she said, "your rooms are on the second floor." She led them up a nearby staircase, and to a suite of rooms. She opened the door, and they stepped through.

It was a medium-sized room with a large king-sized canopy bed in it. It was hung with tapestries of elves, banners of trees and flowers and other such things. A small wooden table for two was set with beautiful golden flowers. A large couch arrayed with cushions was embroidered with flowers, trees and natural images. There were two wooden dressers with mirrors, and three more doors leading away from the room. It was a very beautiful room, very elvish in appearance and feel.

"This is one of the human visitor suites. Does this suit my lord and my lady's requirements?" the elf asked nervously.

"It's perfect," Carmen breathed, looking around.

"My Lord, my Lady, there will be a ball tonight," the elf informed them, "starting at 7 pm. Personal servants will be sent around to help you prepare."

"Thank you," Carmen said warmly. The elf curtsied,

"is there anything I can do for now?" she inquired.

"No, thank you," Harry answered. The elf curtsied again, and left.

Carmen immediately went to look in the other rooms, while Harry simply absorbed what was around him.

"Harry, look!" she exclaimed, upon opening one door. Harry went over and looked in. Rows and rows of dresses were hung up, above shelves of tunics, shirts, skirts and trousers. All were of elvish design. Harry smiled,

"I wouldn't suggest wearing one of them tonight. We have to show those who come that we are the Valeru, and aren't ashamed of it. You can combine ideas, but make sure you have something stating your status," he warned her.

"Yes, Harry," she rolled her eyes, before starting to look through the dresses. Shaking his head, Harry went to the next door, and found his own wardrobe. This one was full of outer robes, inner-robes, shirts, tunics and trousers. He looked through the robes. Seeing as he was in the Elvish realm, he probably should wear something a bit elvish, which meant combining two outfits. He selected a loose inner-robe with a circular-neck and tight sleeves, and an outer-robe with long, draping sleeves. He took them out of the wardrobe and laid them out on the bed, and then flicked his wrist, summoning his formal robes.

Narrowing his eyes, he looked thoughtfully at the two sets. A murmured spell altered the color of the inner elvish robe to sparkling gold, and added white flame embroidery on the hem, cuffs and collar. Heavy gold embroidery decorated the upper-chest, and a broad white sash was wrapped around the waist, itself adorned with gold flames and phoenixes. The outer-robe was also turned gold, with white flames embroidered on the circular collar, cuffs, hem and edges. Embroidered on the back was the immense white and gold phoenix that was Harry's sign.

After removing his dragon-hide boots, Harry concentrated on them, switching the colors around. He summoned his soft, kid gloves, and turned them pure white, with the phoenix embroidered on the back, instead of their customary gold. Another flick of his wrist summoned his Valeru shirt and trousers. The shirt was changed from a high collar to a circular collar, and the sleeves made tighter around his arms, to allow room for the robes. Satisfied at last, Harry banished the clothes back to the wardrobe and set out to explore the rest of the room.

A/N: So, how do u like it? Don't mind my editors ramblings, she's a bit mental.

E.N. OK! Anyone that hasn't fallen in love with this story either doesn't like it or is just plain crazy! Seriously, Review and try, try to create a story that is better then this. P.S. Don't flam the story. It was my comment so don't take it out on the author. If you have a comment u know were to reach me. ;) ttyl and REVIEW PEOPLE!!!!!!


	7. Chapter 7 The Return

**Chapter 7 – The Return**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past. Any resemblance to real events or places is entirely accidental.

**Telepathic Speech**

_Beast Speech_

Chapter 7

Harry rolled his neck as he sat up in bed. He'd been in the Elvish realm for 2 years, and had to return to the mortal world. In that time, his education had grown enormously. The first thing he'd learned was to ride a horse both with and without a saddle and bridle. He'd learnt elvish fencing, which he'd unconsciously combined with the human style, and converted into his own unique style. His archery and dagger throwing abilities had tripled under the expert tutelage of the elves, as had the rest of his warrior skills. He'd learned to track, scout and creep up on someone without leaving any trail or alerting anyone to his presence. He could climb like a monkey, fall like a cat and run like the wind. He walked with a graceful elegance, with confidence and assurance in every stride, making absolutely no noise when he moved or walked. He had super-fast reflexes, thanks to continuous unwarned attacks by his teachers, and had real combat experience from a number of Death Eaters who'd passed near the elvish borders. Thanks to a combination of handy elvish potions, Harry's eye-sight had been finally been cured, to a point where they were better then even normal human eye-sight. His other senses had changed too; they were almost elven now, boosted by potions and years of training and honing.

He hurried into the bathroom, and then emerged, dressed in a set of elvish robes. He preferred elvish clothing to wizarding or muggle clothing. Muggle clothing was so constricting, but wizarding clothing was too thin. Elvish clothing was like wizarding clothes, but with more layers, with the added benefit of looking much more regal, especially with the circlet he was permitted to wear, though he chose not to wear it often. The royal family wore silver circlets with jewels, whereas nobility had the circlets without jewels. This time, his outfit was a simple lavender array.

He flopped down on the couch, and then looked up sharply as a soft sound was heard from above. A soft, loving smile appeared on his face as the red and gold bird landed gentle on his arm.

"Hey, girl," he murmured.

_Good morning, Master Harry,_ she trilled lightly. The phoenix, Mela, fluttered lightly down to his arm. Her name was elvish for love, which is what she was the embodiment of. She had bonded to him about a year and a half earlier when Harry had been out, wandering the forest. He'd come across the newly-hatched phoenix, being stalked by a wolf. New born phoenixes were defenseless against predators that did not use magic. Harry had saved the phoenix, and they had immediately bonded. Now Mela was Harry's friend for life, her magic was much more effective on him, not to mention the fact she wasn't an ordinary phoenix. She was a Royal Phoenix, which meant her magic was much more powerful. She wasn't intended for war or battles, but her talons and beak were sharper. She looked the same as an ordinary phoenix though, except for a slight difference in size.

Harry looked up from his phoenix as the bathroom door swung open, to reveal Carmen. Unlike normal, when she wore the stunning elvish dresses that she claimed made her feel more 'feminine', she had chosen to go with her standard formal outfit for Valeru. They were returning to mortal world that day, or rather Harry was but she was returning to the BSS. They would remain in constant mental contact though, so they wouldn't be completely alone. He smiled at her, a smile that conveyed warmth and affection. He rose, carefully balancing Mela, and then kissed her deeply.

"Come on," she said regretfully when they parted, "we'd better get moving; you've got to get back to the Dursleys."

"And prepare to face the music," Harry muttered, but nonetheless shrunk and packed all his things with a flick of his wrist. As a gift from the elves, they'd been told they could take all the clothing in the rooms if they wanted, as the royal family had noticed that they loved elvish clothing. Harry had taken every over-robe and under-robe in the room, while Carmen had selected every dress, while leaving the robes.

He opened the door to their quarters and stepped out of the room. Mela swooped out of the door and landed lightly on his shoulder.

"How are you going to disguise Mela?" Carmen asked, "there are people who can see through her invisibility spells, like Albus Dumbledore." Harry shrugged,

"she can just stay away during the day," he answered, "and if someone sees her, I can say I met her during my 'training'." Carmen glanced at him sharply, but then shrugged and started off down the corridor.

Ten minutes later, they were standing by the river, preparing to cross it. The prince and princess, with whom they'd become good friends during their time there.

"We'll see you again," the prince said, as he clasped hands with Harry.

"I hope so," Carmen agreed as she hugged the princess.

"You'll always be welcome back here, both of you," the princess informed them archly, "even if you're a criminal in the wizarding world." Harry smiled,

"Hardly likely, but I thank you for the offer," he returned, embracing the princess.

"If you ever need our help, you know how to contact us," the prince embraced Carmen formally.

With that, Harry and Carmen stepped into one of the boats, and were soon on the other side of the river. After exchanging one last spoken farewell with the royal siblings, the two of them apparated out. There was a special secret to apparation into and out of the elven world, which not many people knew. It was a way of thinking and adjusting the magic.

Harry reappeared down the road from the Dursleys, wandlessly changing his robes to a normal muggle outfit consisting of a pair of black jeans and a green top, at the same time as an invisibility spell cloaked him in it's folds. The Ministry normally detected both magic done with and without a wand, but there was ways to circumvent the detection system. An elaborate spell would disguise his magical signature to the point where wandless magic wouldn't be sensed, but wand magic would be. Harry had had the spell cast on him before he left, and so could use wandless magic.

He plucked his glasses from his pocket and slid them on. A moment later and his glasses had tuned in to allow him to view through invisibility spells and cloaks. He scanned the road, searching for the watcher that should have been on the road. Harry saw two figures nearby, one in the garden, reading a magazine and one sitting on the wall by the Dursley drive. The one in the garden Harry didn't recognize for a moment, before he realized that it was Tonks beneath the bright yellow hair, tank top and shorts. On the drive Harry recognized Remus Lupin, whose eyes were fixed on a window on the second floor. Harry almost sighed in relief when he didn't spot Alastor Moody, who might have been able to see through his invisibility spells.

A moment later he'd switched his vision to seeing magic. He looked around the house, searching for any sign of wards, magical objects or any magical signature. He blinked rapidly and his eyes watered as an extremely bright light hit his eyes. Extending around the entire block of houses was a magical ward of white light that was intended to halt anyone bearing a Dark Mark and to warn the person it was linked to of the attempted breach.

Swearing in his mind, Harry dampened the light effects on his glasses and continued searching. He recognized new anti-apparation wards, strengthened wards to keep out magical creatures, notice-me-not wards, wards to force an animangi out of their shape and even more wards to conceal the wards from a wizarding viewer.

**Tut, tut, **he sighed silently, **nothing about repelling the undead, summoned creatures or anything like that.**

**They don't know it can be done,** Carmen reminded him, **those wards you came across were in ancient Chinese books.**

**Still, without all this training, I'd be toast if even one undead decided to drop by, **Harry muttered.

**Undead don't decide to do anything, they are commanded, **Carmen drawled sarcastically, **even you should have figured that out by now.** Harry rolled his eyes at his girlfriend, and turned back to his examination of the wards surrounding his house.

They were full of raw power, even if the wards themselves were quite simple. Obviously Dumbledore had had something to do with them, probably him and a couple of other wizards. They'd keep out everyone, including Voldemort, but no undead, elemental or otherworldly creature would be affected by them at all.

He felt the comfortable weight of Mela settle on his shoulder and saw the flash of bright color as she landed, although he knew she had turned herself invisible to all eyes except her master's. Royal Phoenixes couldn't be seen by anyone except the people whom they wished or had prior experience with phoenixes and could detect the signs, a fact that Harry was planning on using during the next few months. At Hogwarts only one or two people could see through the spells, and since they weren't expecting to see a phoenix they wouldn't see her. Even if they did, they would mistake her for Fawkes.

He turned to the house, scanning the house itself. He saw nothing resembling magic in or on the building, something that seemed slightly abnormal to him. He'd have expected them to plant something magical in his house or something, to keep track of him.

**Darling, remember that they wouldn't think of something like that. You only thought of it because of your training here,** Carmen reminded him gently, **don't blame them. The Order isn't infallible you know.**

**Don't I know it,** Harry said grimly, thinking of a specific room in the Ministry. He felt a mental caress followed the feeling of a pair of lips on his, as Carmen soothed him.

Shrugging off the depressing thoughts, Harry turned off his vision, returning the sunglasses to normality. One last check of all his weapons and gear, and then Harry gritted his teeth as he reached out along his bonds. Over the seven years of his time in the Time Wing, he'd developed a mother-son bond with Ingrid. It was deep and strong enough to allow him the same access to her powers as he had to Carmen's. He could tap into either person's powers if he tried hard enough and if they were willing, although it was substantially more draining and wasn't always accurate. He could, with extreme effort, tap into Gregorio's powers, but that drained him until he was virtually useless otherwise.

He pulled lightly on the bond, searching for her magical core. Reaching out, he lightly snagged her telekinetic powers, and pulled. There was the brief moment of halt as Ingrid noticed what he was doing, and then it came easily as she allowed him access. He pulled the power through and wrapped it around himself, concentrating hard on the Dursley's smallest room.

He released the power he'd taken, letting it flow back to Ingrid as he reappeared in the corner of the room. He remained perfectly still as the boy sitting on his bed whirled into a fighter's crouch. After a moment, the boy straightened with a low laugh. Harry examined him critically. He was an exact copy of what Harry had been, except slightly taller and more muscled.

The boy stepped away from the bed, away from the window. No-one could see him from the garden now.

"So, you're back, my lord," the boy said softly as his form changed. He grew substantially taller, his eyes turned blue and his hair went blonde. His face and body changed quite a bit, as the metamorphagi returned to his natural form.

"Yup," Harry agreed, as he cast wandless illusions on himself, "but call me Harry." He sighed as his body returned to what the other boy had looked like, although nothing could hide the no longer sad and unhappy eyes. The metamorphagi shook his head,

"As you wish, Harry. I don't see how you managed fifteen years with those relatives of yours," he remarked, "I'm going crazy after less then a month." Harry laughed,

"practice."

"Okay, a quick low-down of what's happened. You got 4 letters from Mr. Weasley, 5 from Miss Granger, and three from Mr. Lupin," the boy said as he went into agent mode, "I sent the required letters every three days, making them brief and short. I replied to each of your other letters, but they were all short." Shorter letters would make it harder for his friends to realize it wasn't him writing.

"I kept copies of the letters that I sent for you to read," he gestured to a pile on the desk, "as for your relatives. I stayed out of their way, and saw Dudley only twice and Petunia once. Meals haven't been too good though, so be prepared." Harry nodded his understanding.

"Been doing some conditioning in the park, push-ups, sit-ups, running etc. Hopefully it'll mean you don't have to hide as much of your muscle during school. They also think I've been studying a lot, so that'll help as well. By the way, Dumbledore sent a letter for you a couple of days ago, trying to patch things up. He didn't sound pleading, more like an equal to an equal. I replied that I or you would forgive him but he's on probation, and had to tell you about what goes on in the war." Harry nodded, it'd make his job easier if he got on with the headmaster.

"Tomorrow you need to send another letter to the Order," the boy added, almost as an afterthought.

"Sure," Harry nodded, storing the information away.

"I'd better get going," the boy said at last, "I'll need to report in to the Lord and Lady." Harry nodded his agreement, and then watched as the boy tapped the watch on his wrist and then vanished. After a moment, Harry headed to his desk. He looked down and saw his half-finished Potions essay on the table, exactly the same as when he'd left the house almost three weeks earlier. His double clearly hadn't wanted to do his homework for him, which Harry could see the point of. It didn't really matter, after all his training, he could brew this particular potion with his eyes shut. With a sigh, he settled down at the table to complete the assignment.

Harry was in his potions lab, brewing an ancient truth potion, when Mela appeared beside him, clutching a letter. She'd obviously taken it from an owl that had landed outside, and brought it to him. She knew well enough not to land on his shoulder or give it to him yet, as she'd quickly learnt what potions could do if left untended. There had been numerous explosions in the lab the first few days while she was learning.

He carefully added a pinch of griffin hair, and stirred constantly until they had dissolved. He lowered the fire slightly, and then left the potion to simmer. He took the letter from Mela with a word of thanks, and then opened it.

_Dear Harry, _

_Mate, we'll be going to Diagon Alley on the 25th, hopefully you can make it there. Dumbledore says you can come over that day, or if the Dursleys won't let you, someone will pick you up and bring you over to Headquarters, where we are now._

_Ron_

Harry grinned, he'd get there one way or another. A flick of his wrist summoned a piece of parchment, an inkwell and a quill. A second charm enchanted the quill to write with his handwriting as he dictated. He was still brewing the potion, and couldn't stop to write the letter himself.

A few moments later, the letter was complete. A flick of his wrist folded the letter up, and he handed it to Mela. She vanished in a burst of flames, gone to get Hedwig to deliver the letter. As a phoenix, all light animals would follow her requests and commands and most dark animals would as well.

Harry doused the fire, and then muttered a cooling charm. When he judged it was cool enough, he carefully poured the potion into the vials he had ready. He tapped each with his finger and labels appeared on the bottles neatly. He carried them over to the shelves surrounding the room and carefully placed them on the truth potion shelf. This particular potion was an extreme measure if the intended victim refused to cooperate, showed resistance against all other potions, and the suspected victim was suspected of murder etc. It caused the victim to see things that they were scared of, and with each false answer it moved ever closer. Few could resist that kind of interrogation.

_Dear Ron_

_I can make it; my uncle will drive me there. I'll see you outside Gringotts on 25th August, at 10 am? I'll bring my trunk as well._

_Harry_

"MUM, HARRY CAN COME!" Ron hollered down to his mother. Beside him, his sister winced, anticipating what was to come. Exactly on cue, a female voice began shrieking from down the corridor.

"Filth! Letting Mudbloods into the house with no wizarding pride..." the voice was cut off abruptly, as Hermione shut the curtains sharply across her. Ginny sighed in relief.

_Dear Harry_

_Mum agreed. See you there._

_Ron_

A/N: There, seventh chapter complete. I hope you liked it, we're finally back in the mortal world. And here we'll stay. Next chappie...Diagon Alley.

E.N. Ok, Anyone that's pissed because the chapters take 2 long, it was my fault. But you try having 6 major projects in one week and about 4 major essay's and see how much time you have left! (I'm slowly going crazy!) Anyway, REVIEW PEOPLE!!!!!


	8. Chapter 8 Who's That With McGonagall

**Chapter 8 – Who's that with McGonagall?**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past. Any resemblance to real events or places is entirely accidental.

**Telepathic speech**

_Beast Speech_

Chapter 8

Harry thanked his uncle shortly as he stepped out of the car, dragging his trunk with him. Passersby spared him only a cursory glance before hurrying on. Most people didn't carry trunks around them in the middle of London, but a quick notice-me-not charm had fixed that, and no-one would notice the massive trunk he carried. Any wizards watching him would see the trunk, but put the fact that muggles didn't seem to see it down to muggle weirdness.

Harry stepped into the Leaky Cauldron, and hurried to the back of the shop. The Leaky Cauldron was full, and few people saw or took notice of him, especially with the changes that he had revealed. He was a couple of inches taller, and more muscled, which in itself reduced his likelihood of being recognized. He drew his wand and tapped the required bricks on the wall outside. Within moments, the arch that led into Diagon Alley was open. Harry crossed beneath it, and it closed up again behind him.

Harry weaved through the crowd, heading towards the big marble building he could see in the distance. As he neared it, he saw a group of five red-heads and a brunette. Grinning, he sped up.

He approached the group silently, listening in.

"...is he?" a sixteen year-old red head was saying, "he said he'd be here at 10 am. It's already 9:59."

"He said he'd be here at 10, so he's not late," the youngest red-head snapped at her brother.

"What if his family didn't let him come?" the brunette fretted.

"He would have owled us then," the youngest one answered firmly.

"It's ten o'clock," the first speaker announced, "he's late."

"Oh, I think not, it'd have to be 10:01 before I was late," Harry said in a teasing tone as he stepped forward. The group whirled around to stare at him,

"Oy!"

"Where is he?" Ron demanded of his mother, "he said he'd be here at 10 am. It's already 9:59." Ginny rolled her eyes; her brother was really panicking today, because his friend wasn't early.

"He said he'd be here at 10, so he's not late," the youngest Weasley snapped at her brother.

"What if his family didn't let him come?" Hermione cried.

"He would have owled us then," Ginny told her firmly. Both of them, as bad as mother hens.

"It's ten o'clock," Ron anounced, "he's late."

"Oh, I think not, it'd have to be 10:01 before I was late," a masculine voice said behind them. Ginny whirled around to stare at him, aware that the rest of her family did the same.

"Oy!" she breathed. Harry grinned at her.

Gone was the Harry Potter who had said goodbye to them at Kings Cross two months earlier, the 5 ft 4 in, skinny, pale fifteen year-old. In his place, was a five foot, six-inch teenager with tanned skin. He wasn't exactly muscular, but neither was he a weakling. His emerald eyes gleamed with mischief, the sorrow gone. He no longer had the 'I'm the sorrowful weakling hero at the bottom of the world' posture, instead he was confident and self-assured. His body language would convince anyone that he could handle himself.

"OH!" Fred said slowly.

"MY!" George continued.

"GOD!"

"WHAT!"

"DID!"

"YOU!"

"DO!" George finished in turn. Harry grinned at them,

"Hi, guys," he greeted them.

"What did you do, Harry dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Just did some working out, and eating properly," Harry shrugged, "my body must have been making up for all the growing it missed in my first sixteen years."

Harry waited for the Weasley's to recover their composure as all five plus one stared at him, mouth open. He himself had a fair bit of recovering to do. Ron, Hermione and Ginny had all changed as well.

Ron was even taller now, at least 5 ft 7 in. His skin was tanned, and his muscles were much more obvious. His flaming red hair had darkened in tone slightly. Hermione had grown from an awkward teenager to a beautiful young woman. Her height now was about 5 ft 6, and her brown hair flowed down her back in gentle waves. The dark blue spaghetti strap with pale blue jeans just accented her curves and figure without making them seem too big. Ginny was about 5 ft 5, with her red hair cascading over one shoulder. A black sleeveless shirt with a yellow sparkling design emphasized her lightly tanned arms, and the knee-length black jean skirt showed off her slim legs.

"You guys have changed too," he commented.

"We haven't figured out how they managed to change so fast," Fred sighed in mock misery.

"So, where do you need to go?" Mrs. Weasley asked him.

"Gringotts," Harry said, "I need to get more money to go shopping."

"Give me your trunk first, dear," Mrs. Weasley took out her wand. She tapped the trunk, shrinking it and placing a lightening charm on it. Harry took it back and pocketed it. The group hurried up into the marble bank, and Harry approached a goblin.

"I would like to make a withdrawal from my vault," Harry told the goblin, handing over the key.

They dropped by the Weasley vault first, where Mrs. Weasley collected every coin into it. Harry bit his lip and kept his eyes averted. He never had liked the fact that the Weasleys, who were the nicest family he'd met, were so poor, and the Malfoys, who were almost as bad as Voldemort, were so rich.

When they reached Harry's vault, Harry scooped about fifty galleons into a bag that he had brought with him. He left it quickly, not feeling very good about the whole thing. He was very quiet throughout the journey back to the surface.

"Thank you," Harry told him. The goblin bowed and returned to his station.

Exiting the bank, Mrs. Weasley turned to them,

"You have four hours to do all the shopping and wandering you want," she told them, "meet me back here at 2:30." Harry nodded,

"Come on, guys."

"So, what do you guys need to get?" Harry asked, as they wandered away.

"Books, new robes, potion ingredients," Hermione sighed, "...everything, basically."

"Let's head to Madame Malkin's then," Ginny suggested. The four of them started off towards the robe shop.

"Hey," Ron said suddenly, "who's that with McGonagall?" Harry twisted around to see who Ron was talking about, and felt his jaw drop. Coming towards them was Professor McGonagall, in her customary green robes, but at her side was a girl Harry recognized. She was about 5 ft 6 in, with long wavy black hair that reached her waist. Her eyes were a gentle sky-blue, and her features gentle. She was slender and almost fragile looking. She wore a light blue wizarding robe, with no other jewelry except a pair of sapphire earrings. Harry shut his mouth, still staring.

"Potter, Granger, Weasley, Weasley," McGonagall said stiffly as she approached them, "this is Carmen Cortez, who will be joining Hogwarts this year in sixth year. She has transferred from Beauxbaxtons. She'll be going back to Headquarters tonight, can you take her back with you." McGonagall looked rather hassled, probably wasn't used to taking her students shopping.

**What are you doing here?** Harry demanded of her silently.

**Aunt Ingrid and Uncle Gregorio decided that you might need some back-up, **Carmen replied, **so here I am. **

**How are we going to manage this? We can't reveal we know each other,** Harry inquired.

**Why not? Say I lived near you during primary school, so we know each other,** Carmen suggested.

"Of course, professor," Hermione said quickly, "we'd love to. As long as she doesn't mind shopping with us first." Carmen shrugged,

"it's fine with me." Harry noticed a faint French accent in her voice.

**I see you've been working on that,** he noted.

"Good," McGonagall nodded, "I'll see you back in school then." With that, she turned and strode off.

"Carmen?" Harry exclaimed aloud.

"Harry?"

"You two know each other?" Ron looked puzzled.

"Yeah, she lived a couple of doors away when we were younger," Harry answered, "before she moved."

"To France," Carmen elaborated, "I'm a native British, but I've spent the last eight years in France. I didn't know the Dursleys were magical, Harry."

"They aren't," Harry replied, "I'm the only one."

"So your aunt is a squib?"

"No, my mother was muggleborn," Harry answered.

"Oh...you're the boy-who-lived, aren't you?" Carmen managed to look embarrassed, "I didn't put it together before."

"Yes, but it doesn't matter, I'm still Harry," Harry assured her quickly, "your own parents did a good job of hiding their powers though. How are they?"

"My parents are dead," Carmen said flatly, "I moved because they died." Hermione gasped,

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said sympathetically. Carmen shook her head,

"it's fine. I've had eight years to get used to it, and my aunt and uncle are virtually my parents now."

"Um...shouldn't we introduce ourselves and then move along," Ron said suddenly, "we've got to be back here at half past two."

"Right," Hermione nodded, "I'm Hermione Granger." Hermione held her hand out. Carmen shook it warmly.

"Ron Weasley," Ron added, "and my sister, Ginny."

"It's a pleasure," Carmen replied, flashing Ginny a friendly smile. Ginny grinned back, rolling her eyes at her brother.

"So, Carmen, do you need to buy anything?" Hermione asked. Carmen shook her head,

"no. My aunt and uncle have made sure I've got everything I need."

"Well, we need to go to Madame Malkin's," Ginny piped up, "Hermione needs new robes. Mum's getting Ron's and mine though. Harry?"

"I'm fine with mine," Harry answered, "just the battle robes." In reality, he'd had robes for school tailored for him at the BSS, just like Carmen. They looked exactly the same as normal, but were more smoother against the skin, more durable and were charmed to repel stains, spells and potions as well as to stay out of the way during potion brewing. The sleeves were also spelled to allow him to hide weapons and potions up them. But he had to get battle robes or his friends would wonder why he didn't get them. He'd use it during school, but if it came to a real fight, he'd use his other one.

Upon entering, Hermione and Harry approached Madame Malkin, as the others lounged around near the door.

A few minutes later Harry was looking at different designs, materials and colors for battle robes, all of which had been approved by Hogwarts for school use. At last he pointed to a design made up of an over-robe that could be fastened up at the front.

"That design in emerald green battle silk with gold thread," Harry requested. The one he'd requested was a long, ankle length over-robe hemmed with runes for healing, protection, life and safety amidst lions and phoenixes. The robe itself was also lightly adorned with protective embroidery. The material was a sturdy but light material that was comfortable.

While Harry's battle robe was being fixed, Hermione selected her own battle robe and a new dress robe. Her dress robe was more muggle than wizarding; a pale blue dress with thin straps, that was tight to the waist and then swirled gently around her ankles. The heavy skirt was layered, but almost unnoticeably. Silver glitter sparkled all over it, and elaborate gold embroidery decorated the waist, hem and collar. Over that too went an open pale blue robe. Her battle outfit was a full, ankle-length pale blue robe with bronze embroidery in healing and protective runes on the hem, cuffs and collar.

After they'd paid for their robes, they joined the others and headed towards Flourish and Blotts. Once inside, Harry picked up a basket and began to search for his school books, Carmen trailing behind him.

_Books_

_All sixth year students should have a copy of each of the following according to their subject:_

_Advanced Book of Spells (Grade 6) by Miranda Goshawk (Charms)_

_Spells You Ought To Know by Jacob Techni (Charms)_

_Complicated Spells For Simple Results by Michael Asberth (Charms)_

_Advanced Transfiguration by Emeric Switch (Transfiguration)_

_Transfiguration In A Duel by Henry Jailth (Transfiguration)_

_Advanced Magical Drafts and Potions by Thomas Alferth (Potions)_

_The Dark Arts: How To Fight 'Em by Alvin Beamer (DADA)_

_What's A Dark Curse by Sebastian Anguifer (DADA)_

_What To Do When You Face The Ultimate Evil by Samuel Marston (DADA)_

_Destroy the Dark by Helberth Manith (DADA)_

_Advanced Plants and Herbs by David Rhein (Herbology)_

_Magical Creatures of the Deep and Sky by Joseph Patchwork (COMC)_

_From The Wand To Sword; A Dueler's Guide by Marshall Elliot (Dueling)_

_The Marshal Arts; A Beginner's Guide by Marshal Elliot (Dueling)_

_Weapons by Marshal Elliot (Dueling)_

_To Shield Your Mind by Christopher Plummer (Occulmancy)_

_Who's Invading Your Private Space by Donald Asperth (Occulmancy)_

_Fighting Leglimancy by Christian Gerald (Occulmancy)_

Harry sighed, and began at the first section, Charms. He drifted through the shelves leisurely, selecting his course books. After Harry had paid for his books, he and Carmen joined Ron and Ginny as they waited for Hermione to finish. Ron rolled his eyes as they spotted Hermione going to the counter with a stack of books so high that she couldn't see over it.

"Is she always like that?" Carmen inquired of the two boys and Ginny.

"Always," Ron sighed, "her idea of 'light reading' is a five inch thick ancient book."

Once they left Flourish and Blotts, they headed to Feline Furballs, for Hermione to get food for Crookshanks. At Ron's request, they visited Quality Quidditch Supplies. While his friends browsed, Harry collected a new broomstick care kit, and a strategy planner. The strategy planner was simply a miniature Quidditch field complete with players. You could instruct them in what to do and they would show the move or combination.

"We've got an hour left," Ginny announced, "shall we drop by the Ice Cream Parlour or go to Weasley Wizard Wheezes?"

"Ron's brothers' joke shop," Harry explained to Carmen softly.

"The joke shop," Ron dragged Hermione and Ginny down the street. Harry and Carmen followed them, laughing.

As the door of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes opened, Harry shot in, hoping to avoid the prank that they had no doubt set up. Indeed, no sooner had Ron stepped into the doorway, when a bucket of magical paint dropped on top of him. Harry grinned, and then broke out laughing. Ron was dripping wet, and the paint was flashing different colours.

"Prat Paint!" George's voice yelled, "flashes all the colours of the rainbow, and doesn't come off for 48 hours. Only 5 galleons for a litre." The twins emerged out of the shadows grinning,

"Nice outfit, Ron," Fred smirked. Ron glared at them and stumped in. Harry shook his head, he still hadn't gained any wits.

Hermione and Ginny came in, careful to avoid the splashes of wet paint on the floor. Fred whipped his wand out, and muttered something under his breath. Harry didn't quite catch the words, but he could guess that it was a counter-spell. The paint vanished, although it stayed on Ron.

"Who's your friend, Harry?" Fred winked suggestively.

"Oh, right. Fred, George, this is Carmen Cortez. Carmen, these two prankers are Fred and George Weasley. Or as they prefer it, Gred and Forge," Harry smirked, "McGonagall dropped her off with us today, she's going to be staying at Headquarters until school starts." Fred grinned unrepentantly.

"So, what brings you lot to our fine establishment?" George asked.

"I'm curious in a few items," Harry answered, "I'm thinking of taking your places in Hogwarts."

**As if you haven't had enough practice over the last nine years,** Carmen commented.

"Come with us, buddy!" Harry ignored Hermione's outraged look, and followed Fred, with Ginny, Carmen and Ron close on his heels. Hermione chose to remain in the main part of the store with George.

Fred let them into a small office at the back of the store and locked the door once all four of them were inside. He walked over to one of the two desks, and tapped it. A drawer shot open, and Fred picked up a thick, leather-bound book from it. He set it down in front of Harry,

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes's Guide to Pranks," he told him. Harry grinned evilly,

"Think of what we could do to Malfoy, with that," he murmured.

"You can have it, if you promise to wreak havoc on the Slytherins," Fred said. Harry's eyes lit up,

"Done! How much is it?" Harry opened his money pouch.

"Nothing," Fred waved him off, "you're our little brother's best friend." Harry shook his head,

"That doesn't feel right. Tell you what, I won't pay for the book, but each prank we play using the book, you'll receive two sickles?"

"Deal," Fred shook his hand in the age old sign of a deal. He tapped the book,

"Copiare!" a second copy of the book appeared beside it after a few moments. Fred shrunk the copy, and handed it to Harry, who pocketed it.

"Thanks," Harry said, smirking.

"No problem," Fred said, unlocking the door.

Fifty minutes later, Harry was paying for pranking items. He'd bought some of everything in the shop, thinking it well worth the money.

"We're spending most of our time here, we go home only to eat and sleep," George informed Harry as he took the money, "so you won't see much of us." Harry nodded,

"I'm sure the thing you guys gave us will be more then enough," he said.

"Just don't get caught with it, we don't want everyone knowing about the pranks inside," Fred warned, "it's got the counter-spells in it as well." Harry grinned,

"Sure thing." The five of them hurried back towards Gringotts, Hermione lecturing them about behaviour all the way.

Mrs. Weasley was waiting for them on the steps.

"Hello Carmen," she greeted the girl warmly, "Professor McGonagall spoke to me about you. We'll be flooing back to Headquarters," she informed them briskly, "from the Leaky Cauldron." Harry sighed, he hated flooing. Apparating and teleporting was so much better, because they were instantaneous, and you had the feeling of weightlessness while you were doing it.

"All right, Ginny you first," Mrs. Weasley told her daughter. Ginny groaned, but tossed in a pinch of floo-powder. She stepped in,

"12 Grimmauld Place," she said in an undertone and then vanished.

"Hermione?" Mrs. Weasley offered her the pot. Hermione stepped into the fire, and was soon gone.

"Harry?" He took a pinch of the powder and tossed it into the flames,

"12 Grimmauld Place," he said quietly. He began to spin, as he shut his eyes tightly.

When he felt himself slowing down, Harry opened his eyes. Soon the living room of Sirius's old house came into view. Harry stepped from the fireplace, brushing himself off. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of both Hermione and Ginny on the floor. Clearly they had tumbled from the fireplace and hadn't had time to get up before he came through.

Harry stepped aside, as first Ron and then Carmen and finally Mrs. Weasley appeared.

"Harry, you're sharing a room with Ron," Mrs. Weasley told him, "Ron, why don't you show him to the room? Carmen, you'll be with Hermione and Ginny." Ron nodded,

"Right. Come on."

"Let me un-shrunk his trunk first," Mrs. Weasley said, drawing her wand again. Harry tossed his trunk to the floor casually, and it was rapidly enlarged.

"Thanks," Harry said. He dragged his trunk behind him as he followed Ron up to his room, mentally preparing to be bombarded with questions.

A/N: I hope you like this chapter, it hopefully isn't too boring.

E.N. LOVE THE CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! REVIEW PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	9. Chapter 9 The Hogwarts Express

**Chapter 9 – The Hogwarts Express**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past, and if so, I apologise.

**Telepathic speech**

_Beast speech_

Chapter 9

It was the 1st of September, and chaos reigned in Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

"HURRY UP, we're going to be late!"

"Hey, get off my sock, I need that!"

"MUM! I can't shut my trunk!"

"Pass the book, please!"

"Harry, stop grinning and give me that!"

"ARTHUR!"

Harry rolled his eyes as he hurried down the stairs, his trunk bumping on the steps behind him. A flash of red caught his eye as a frantic Ginny Weasley hurtled down the stairs after her trunk, which had preceded her. Moments later, Carmen hurried down the stairs, her own trunk being dragged behind her. Mrs. Weasley had given her the trunk the day earlier, saying that McGonagall had brought it from her aunt and uncle's. Clearly Ingrid and Gregorio were friends of Dumbledore's to arrange it all. Carmen had quickly fitted in with Hermione, becoming fast friends, especially once Hermione had discovered Carmen's passion for books as well. They spent hours discussing this or that book, whether an author was right or wrong.

Harry jumped the last two steps; he was pleased to be returning to Hogwarts. Regardless of the fact that the people he cared for the most lived in the BSS and thus it was his home, home is where the heart is after all, Hogwarts had its own special place in his heart. The elvish realm was also a special place, he could easily adapt to calling that home as well. He dragged his trunk after him as he headed outside Grimmauld Place to the waiting Ministry cars. Mr. Weasley had managed to get a pair of Ministry cars to come and fetch them, and Harry knew the 'chauffeurs' were actually aurors, who were there to protect him.

He loaded his trunk into the front car easily, and then slid into the car, beside Ron. Ginny, Carmen and Hermione would be taking the other car, accompanied by Mrs. Weasley. It would be Mr. Weasley who rode with the boys in the front car.

Twenty minutes later they were in Platform 9 ¾, with only 10 minutes till the train left.

"Go on, you'll need to get seats," Mrs. Weasley urged them. The five of them hurried towards the train. They were just about to board, when a woman in long robes stopped them.

"Are you Hogwarts students?" she inquired. Harry nodded,

"Yes."

"May I have your wand, please?" she requested.

"Why?" Harry demanded.

"An ID check," the woman explained patiently, "I'm an auror."

"Oh, right, sorry," Harry handed his wand over, mentally kicking himself for forgetting about the check. She tapped his wand with her own, and then handed it back to him,

"Thank you, Mr. Potter." A few minutes later, and the rest of them were checked as well.

"Harry, Carmen, I was made prefect, so we've got to go to the prefects' compartment for a bit, okay?" Ginny asked.

"Sure, we'll save you a seat wherever we dump our stuff off," Harry agreed cheerfully.

Harry and Carmen searched for an empty carriage as the others hurried off to the prefects' carriage as the whistle blew. Harry shut the doors of the carriage just as the train began to move. The two of them put their trunks up, and settled down for a nice long chat, after a group of locking and silencing charms.

"Welcome," McGonagall nodded to them as they sat down, "For those of you who are new to the post, I will go over the instructions. Prefects must keep order among the houses, and you have the power to recommend the removal of points and giving of detentions to your Head of House, as long as you can justify it. You personally cannot say it, you must check with your Head. You are supposed to give a good example to the younger students, and to be there when they need you. Fifth year prefects, you need to show the first-years how to get to the common room after dinner tonight. A prefect is allowed to be out of the common-room after hours, and you will be required to patrol the corridors in pairs. The timetable will be given to you tomorrow along with your schedule. There is a prefect bathroom on each floor as well, ask the older prefects how to get there. If there is any misbehavior of younger students, you should deal with it or go to your Head of House if it is serious. If we hear about misbehavior from you, you may have your prefect badge removed. Please group yourselves according to house now, so that I may hand out the passwords to the Towers."

Within moments, there four groups of six prefects, with the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses having an extra person for the Head students. McGonagall informed the groups quietly of their password, and then dismissed them. Finally, she arrived at Gryffindor.

"The password for the Tower is 'Voldemort'," she told them quietly, "you must encourage the younger students to learn to say his name without fear. If you need to find me, my private rooms are guarded by the portrait of Merlin in the north corridor, and my study is next to the Transfigurations Classroom. You may go"

The trio was quick to leave the carriage and hurry down to the one with their friends in it. They slipped inside and found Harry leaning against a window, reading and Carmen writing a letter.

"So," Harry looked up mischievously as they sat down, "anyone wants to become prankers?" Ron, Carmen and Ginny brightened,

"Of course," they said in unison.

"I don't know," Hermione said unsurely, "prefects aren't allowed to misbehave; we could have our badge removed."

"Come on, my father was head boy, and he was still a pranker. Remus was a pranker, he was a prefect and then a teacher," Harry coaxed, "besides, Dumbledore will understand."

"...All right, I'm in," Hermione said.

"Good, well let's plan a prank for tomorrow dinner," Harry said, leaning forward.

Thirty minutes later there was a knock on the door, and the trolley lady looked in,

"Anything off the cart?" Harry stood up and hurried out. He bought some of everything as he had in his first year, and came back to tip it on the seat.

"Help yourself," Harry said. Ginny was the first to move, scooping up a pile of chocolate frogs, and the other three were quick to follow.

They had just started to unwrap their food when the door slid open. Harry knew who it was as soon as he heard the voice that came next.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Scar-head, Weasley and the mudblood, I see you've managed to get another Weasley and another mudblood as well," Malfoy drawled. Hermione lunged to grab Ron, successfully preventing him from attacking the Slytherin.

"Well, if it isn't the baby Death Eaters," Harry taunted, turning around slowly, "missing your daddies? Got no-one to run to for orders now, do you?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ron struggling not to laugh and Hermione's disapproving expression, she clearly wasn't happy with the way either Malfoy or himself was acting. Ginny was smiling, and Carmen looked torn between amusement and worry. Harry didn't care, just watching Malfoy turn red was enough to make him ignore his soul-mate's feelings for the moment.

"You'll pay for that, Potter," Malfoy hissed, "my father may be imprisoned, but I can still make your life miserable." Now anger was very much apparent.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. The only thing you can do is go running to your mummy, or your father's Master," Harry yawned theatrically, "I've survived your father's master four times, I'm sure I can manage a fifth, but I daresay your mother is far more powerful, isn't she? I'm trembling in my boots. Opps, I forgot, I'm not wearing any boots, so I can't tremble in them. I'm ever so sorry." Malfoy went pale, flushed red, and went pale again,

"You will be, Potter!" he snarled before storming out.

"Are you sure you don't want to play any more, Draco?" Harry called after him.

"That was bloody brilliant, Harry," Ron said, grinning at him.

"So you're Quidditch Captain," Ginny said, changing the topic, "what are you planning on doing about the team?"

"We've got quite a bit of work to do. We three and the beaters are the only ones left from either the reserve team or the original team. Though I'm not sure what'll happen about my broom, I don't even know if it's still safe."

"Ask Professor McGonagall, she'll know if it's still around," Hermione suggested, "if not, you'll have to get a new one."

"But it won't be the same," Harry pointed out, "that was one was from Sirius." Ginny nodded approvingly,

"Good, you're over his death."

"I don't think I'll ever get over his death, but I've moved on and accepted it," Harry disagreed. They hadn't talked much about Sirius over the last couple of days, so no-one had realized he was over it.

"At least you're not dwelling on it," Hermione commented, "so, what's happening about seeker? Both you and Ginny play that role."

"I'll take chaser?" Ginny offered, "so we've only got to get two more chasers who can work with me, as well as an entire reserve team."

"Yes, a reserve team is definitely needed," Ron muttered, "in case Harry gets banned again."

"Hey, I didn't _intend_ to get banned from Quidditch," Harry protested, grinning.

"I'm _sure _you didn't," Carmen teased, "you just _happened_ to infuriate Umbridge."

"That was just a pleasant side-effect that came close to balancing out losing my place on the team," Harry grinned again. Hermione shook her head and clucked her tongue in exasperation,

"Harry! I'm surprised she didn't expel you," she admitted.

"Just because she didn't doesn't mean she didn't try her damned hardest," Harry retorted, smirking, "but she found me harder to dislodge then Dumbledore."

"And Professor Dumbledore got himself kicked out for you," Hermione pointed out.

"It turned out okay," Harry shrugged, "and I have to admit, even if Dumbledore _was_ there, and I'd told him about my vision, it wouldn't have helped. Even if he'd told me Sirius was at Headquarters, I'd have been suspicious that there was an imposter, and gone anyway."

"You and your 'hero complex'," Ginny rolled her eyes. Harry grinned at her, eyes laughing.

"Hey, Harry!" a voice called, as Harry got out of the train. Harry turned to see Susan Bones and a couple of Hufflepuffs hurrying up to him.

"Are we going to continue the D.A?" she asked eagerly.

"I don't know," Harry said slowly, "it depends what the teachers are like. If we've got good teachers for DADA and Dueling Club then we won't need to, you'll learn enough in school."

"Just for extra help?" she pleaded.

"Maybe. It depends, because I'll be quite busy this year," Harry relented. Susan nodded, and she hurried off with her friends. As a group, they headed towards the long line of carriages drawn by Thestrals, some of which were already heading towards Hogwarts.

The five got into a carriage and settled down. Harry felt the carriage start to move along the road, and leaned back against the wall. He peered out the window, watching as the scant light that the moon gave off set the waters of the lake to shimmering. A dark shadow gave away the presence of the Forbidden Forest, and Harry shivered as he looked into its dark depths.

"Come on," Ron said impatiently when they'd gotten off, "I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry," Harry laughed, as they set off towards the Great Hall. On the way, Professor McGonagall intercepted them.

"Mr. Potter, Professor Dumbledore would like to see you after the feast," she told him softly, "the password is Snickers." Harry nodded.

"Ms. Cortez, come with me, please," she led Carmen away.

"What was that for?" Hermione asked. Harry shrugged,

"Dumbledore wants to see me later," he answered quietly.

They took their seats at the Gryffindor table and Harry scanned the staff table, noting the teachers. As normal, Professor McGonagall was gone, tending to the first-years no doubt. Snape was scowling at them all from his place, and tiny Professor Flitwick was animatedly having a discussion with Dumbledore. Hagrid was in his seat, dwarfing the people next to him, one of which was the unfortunate Professor Flitwick, who himself could not be called tall. But what really startled Harry were two _very_ familiar people sitting at the table, conversing quietly. The woman wore flowing elegant silver robes with black embroidery, with a matching choker, bracelet, ring and earrings. The man was in high collared red robes with bronze embroidery, with the matching ring and choker.

McGonagall led a line of about thirty new students, all of whom were very obviously first-years. He could almost feel the fear and nervousness washing off the first years; it was so obvious from their faces and stances that they were petrified. Carmen, who was at the back of the line, on the other hand, was completely calm. The head of Gryffindor set the Sorting Hat down on the three-legged stool, and the entire school waited. The rip opened in its brim,

_A school of magic and learning,_

_Was created by four wizards and witches,_

_For spurning,_

_On the growth of the race._

_Four houses named,_

_After the Founders,_

_But the rivalry between houses was blamed,_

_On but two, Gryffindor and Slytherin._

_To win this war against the Dark,_

_Unite we must, or else shall we fall,_

_Sing the same tune like the larks,_

_And work together._

_Think no more of yourselves,_

_As members of Slytherin or Gryffindor,_

_Or Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw selves_

_But as students of Hogwarts School._

_But still must you be Sorted,_

_To learn and grow in your houses,_

_Though you work together supported,_

_By none but yourselves._

_Now in Gryffindor shall dwell,_

_Those brave and courageous,_

_Or those who cast their spell,_

_Before stopping to think._

_In Slytherin help shall come to those,_

_Of cunning minds and quick wit,_

_And I s'pose,_

_To those of ambition._

_To qualify for Ravenclaw,_

_Smart of brain and mind,_

_And eager to learn more,_

_Must you be._

_Hufflepuff; should you be chosen for that,_

_You are loyal and kind-hearted,_

_And never say 'drat'_

_When it comes to hard work._

_But regardless of where you're placed,_

_Remember but one rule,_

_Work together but give each other space,_

_United we triumph and divided we fall!_

The school clapped, but there were murmurings about the explicit warning the hat had given. The first years were still apprehensive, but some relief had crossed their faces, while they hadn't been told exactly what they were doing, it didn't sound like they would be forced to do magic, or fight a troll as Ron had been told. McGonagall stepped forward, unrolling a long scroll.

"When I read your name, please place the hat on your head and you will be Sorted," she told the nervous first years.

"Abbot, Samantha!" A little girl who was clearly a relation of Hannah Abbot's stepped forward and placed the hat on her head.

"Hufflepuff!" the hat shouted, and the Hufflepuff table exploded into applause.

"Anguifer, Salazar," McGonagall read off. A boy with a cunning face stepped forward.

"Slytherin!"

"Becken, Julie!" A blond headed girl stepped forward.

"Ravenclaw!"

"Cassio, Peter."

"Gryffindor!" The Gryffindor table clapped; as the young boy skipped down to take a seat.

Harry tuned the Sorting out, clapping absently whenever a Gryffindor was announced. At last McGonagall announced Carmen's name,

"Cortez, Carmen, transferee from Beauxbaxtons, sixth year." She stepped forward, and placed the hat on her head. Harry linked into her mind at once, listening in on the Sorting hat.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Lady Hufflepuff of the Valeru," the hat acknowledged, "with the other three Light Valeru listening in. Well, my lady, where to put you?"

"Where do I fit best?"

"You are studious and clever, a fitting thing for one in Ravenclaw, but you are loyal and humble, the traits of a Hufflepuff, as well as being Lady of that house. You know how to keep a secret and don't mind lying if necessary, which is very Slytherinnish. You're also courageous and brave, not to mention your soul-mate is both the Lord Gryffindor and in Gryffindor House. You will fit into all of the houses, so take your pick."

"Gryffindor," Carmen replied at once.

"As you wish. GRYFFINDOR!"

Carmen removed the hat and walked gracefully over to the table, sliding into the seat beside him. McGonagall removed the hat and stool from the hall. Gryffindor had received a total of 6 new first-year girls and 7 new first-year boys, the highest in all of Harry's time there. Dumbledore rose,

"Well, seeing as you all are ravenously hungry, I think I'll save the announcements until after the feast. Enjoy," he clapped his hand, and the golden dishes were filled with food. The noise level rose as people started talking and eating.

An hour or so later, the food had finally all vanished, and everyone was feeling stuffed. Dumbledore rose to his feet, and the talk died away.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he said with a smile, "now that you are all fed and watered, you no doubt want to get off to your Common rooms. Before that, I have a few start-of-term announcements. First, all first year students should note that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds for _all_ students, and a few of our older students should remember this as well." His eyes flashed towards Harry and his two friends, they'd been in the Forbidden Forest at least once per year for one reason or another, almost every year of their school life.

"Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that no magic is to be performed in the corridors between classes, and that the list of forbidden items has grown to include the fabulous fireworks that you were privileged to see in action last year, and the Skiving Snackboxes," he continued, "as well as the Inflatable Swamps. Also, the life-bans on Quidditch given out last year by Headmistress Umbridge have been lifted, and the brooms will be returned to their owners. Quidditch try-outs will take place in the second week of term; anyone interested in playing for their House team should contact either the team Captain or Madame Hooch."

"In addition, it has been decided that due to the return of Lord Voldemort, all students must be inside the school building by 6 o'clock, unless they are with a teacher, and must remain in their Tower after 9 o'clock. Prefects and teachers will be patrolling the school at night, to ensure that these curfews are not violated," Dumbledore's gaze swept the school, "now, for your new teachers. This year's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be Professors Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez." There was muted applause from every house, as people were unsure what to expect from the two new teachers, especially after the year before.

**Why, fancy seeing you here, **Harry said sarcastically.

**Hello to you too, **Ingrid replied, unruffled.

**Why didn't you tell us you were coming?** Carmen inquired.

**We thought it'd be a nice surprise,** Gregorio replied.

"For the new Dueling Club, the teachers will be our DADA teachers," Dumbledore informed them, "who are both international duelers."

**Were you?**

**Yes.**

"Now then, scurry along to bed. First years, please follow your House prefects." As he sat down, the school rose to their feet, and the higher grades began to make their way out. Harry spotted Dumbledore leaving the feast quickly, McGonagall on his tail. Ginny rose,

"First years, follow me please," she called, "this way." She began to lead the string of new Gryffindors out of Great Hall. The male prefect followed the line out, making sure that no Gryffindors got themselves lost on the way.

"The password is 'Voldemort'," Ron muttered to his friend, before following Hermione out of the hall and up to Gryffindor Tower, while Harry headed to Dumbledore's office.

He gave the password to the stone gargoyle, and then continued up the staircase. He knocked on the door, and was immediately granted entrance. He entered the familiar office and looked around guiltily. There was no sign of his explosive temper that had caused him to break everything in sight, everything had either repaired itself or Dumbledore had replaced it. Dumbledore was seated in his seat, and McGonagall was beside him. They were still talking in soft voices that Harry couldn't hear.

He stood in front of the desk, waiting patiently. If there was one thing that he'd learnt in the elven kingdoms, it was patience. At the end of his fifth year he'd have been shifting around on the spot impatiently, but now he was calm and collected. At last the two teachers looked up at him.

"Harry," Dumbledore began, eyeing him warily as though expecting Voldemort to possess him at any moment, "have you ...recovered from our last meeting?" Harry stared at him, the first thing Dumbledore did was bring _that_ up?

"I'm in control of my temper, headmaster, if that's what you mean," Harry replied coldly. Dumbledore still wasn't his favorite person, even if he'd become resigned to Sirius's death. He still thought that if he'd been informed of the prophecy earlier, he might not have gone to the Department. His trust in the headmaster had been broken, and it wasn't going to be rebuilt that easily, regardless of the Cortezes's opinions of the man. He intended to tread warily around Dumbledore for the moment, and let him ponder what he'd said to Harry, or rather what he _hadn't_ said, which was more of a problem.

Dumbledore sighed,

"Harry..." he broke off and then began again, "you know now why Voldemort is after you, and I think you understand why you need to prepare for the battle that will eventually come." Harry nodded his assent.

"We were thinking of giving you extra classes to help you. Between Defense Against the Dark Arts and Dueling Club, you'll be magically prepared, and Occulmency will protect your mind, but we were thinking of having you trained as an animangi?" Dumbledore looked at him hopefully. Outside, Harry stayed calm, but his mind was racing. He was already an animangi, how would he cover this up?

**I've just been offered lessons as an animangi, **Harry called out, **what now?**

**Turn it down, say you'd rather not, **Carmen shrugged, **or admit to him that you're already trained as an animangi.**

"Sorry professor, but I can't," Harry said aloud. McGonagall gave him a startled look,

"why not, Potter? I thought you wanted to become an animangi."

"If Voldemort manages to possess me again, I don't want to give him an extra weapon to use," Harry said, rather proud of the cover-up. He, of course, knew that Voldemort couldn't possess him, but it was a good enough excuse.

"Your Occulmancy training will prevent him from doing that," Dumbledore reminded him.

"But I'm not good at it, and I don't want to risk it," Harry said firmly.

"Very well," Dumbledore sighed, "you may go." With his head held high, Harry turned and left the room. He personally couldn't wait for the day when he could show the two of them that he wasn't a little boy anymore.

A/N: There, chapter 9 done and complete. It's even longer then last time, eight whole pages long plus some more.

E.N. Doing little happy dance!! I am in suspense and if you aren't then you haven't read the story properly! REVIEW PEOPLE!!!!!!


	10. Chapter 10 The First Day of Classes

**Chapter 10 – First Day of Classes**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past, and if so, I apologise.

**Telepathic speech**

_Beast speech_

Chapter 10

The morning of September 2nd, Harry woke up at five o'clock. He leapt out of bed; he had two hours of training before he had to be down for breakfast. He hurriedly changed into his training robes, and then concentrated on the Phoenix Hall. He couldn't apparate from outside wards into them, but he could apparate inside wards. He had to call on Ingrid's teleportation abilities to transport himself into the wards.

He appeared in a stone room about third the size of the Great Hall, made of gold stone. The walls, floor and roof were smooth and almost sparkling with cleanliness. At the end of the hall was a tapestry of a phoenix soaring through a blue sky, over mountains, grass and hills. Like all wizarding images, the phoenix and clouds moved. At the opposite end of the hall was a second, portrait, this one of a tall, black haired man. He had brown eyes, messy black hair and wore red and gold robes. Red curtains were held open to reveal it by gold rope. Along the walls were middle-sized paintings of numerous different scenes, including Hogwarts, a small cottage, three different people, lions, and battle scenes. In the middle of the golden floor were four red stones sunk into the floor, measuring a total area of a square meter. In this depression, a fire burned merrily, fueled by magic. Around the fire were four soft red couches, each long and wide enough to be comfortable to lie down on. Nearby were four perches made of gold with rubies, and four wicker baskets with soft red blankets. There were two bookshelves filled with books that Harry knew weren't educational, but fiction. It was a largish, but cozy room, a feeling enhanced by the soft golden glow given off by the orbs floating around and the heat from the fire. It was the Phoenix Chamber, Godric Gryffindor's favorite room. Gryffindor had designed it, and had it built, although all four founders used it to meet and talk. Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets had been built initially, not as a way to purge muggleborns but as a place for potions experiments, in case they went awry. When they exploded down below the school, they couldn't be heard or felt up in the school itself. Hufflepuff's room was a private greenhouse that only the Founder's had access to, tended to by Hufflepuff and the house elves. It ensured a constant supply of whatever the Founder's needed. Ravenclaw's room was a private library of rare books and volumes from around the world that were thought to be lost. Books that not even Hogwarts Library or the BSS had, of dark, light and neutral tendancies.

Harry strode towards the fire, dropping his illusions as he went. He stepped past the couches and reached his hand into the fire, his ring on his finger. About four years into his training as a Valeru, he'd been given the Gryffindor ring. The ring that would allow him access to everything in Hogwarts that Godric Gryffindor had once owned, and Hogwarts herself would now know him as one of her master's. It would also allow him access to his private cottage, a cottage he hadn't bequeathed to his heirs.

"Take me home," he whispered, before stepping fully into the fire.

He stepped away in a bed-chamber. The room was roughly the same size as the Phoenix Chamber had been, and done again in gold stone. Against the far wall, in the middle, was a king sized canopy bed made of mahogany with red sheets. Next to it, on either side, was a pair of bed-side tables of the same wood as the bed. A large bookshelf was against another wall, stacked full of books. The fireplace he'd just stepped from was embedded into the wall this time, sending warm air into the room. Next to that was a double couch, and not too far away was a study table and chair. Hanging from the roof was an owl perch, and in the corner was a stand similar to the one Fawkes used, and beside the perch was a wicker basket lined with red blankets. Light filtered in through a pair of windows, and there were the crystal orbs floating around for at night. A trio of doors led away from the room, and a pair of sliding doors opened out onto a balcony over the grounds. It was, of course, all enchanted so that no-one could see it from outside. The other doors led to the bathroom, the sitting room and the wardrobe.

Harry entered the bathroom, to explore it. It was the same size as the prefect bathrooms, with a large golden swimming pool sized bathtub in the middle. There were the familiar taps along the sides for him to choose what bubbles and water he wanted as well. Off to one side of the room, there was a golden shower as well, in case he wanted a quick shower. The floor was made of red tiles, as was the walls and ceiling. There was a golden toilet in one corner, and a large golden sink nearby. A golden bench was tucked away to the side, with many little vials, stones and soaps around it, clearly for massages. A towel rack was hung with fluffy gold and red towels, and the crystal and diamond spheres gave off a soft gold light. There was even a long golden rope hanging from the ceiling, and Harry guessed it was to summon house-elves.

The wardrobe was so big, it was almost funny; it was practically half the size of his bedroom. Robes, shirts, trouseurs, shorts and underclothing were stacked on shelves, hung on racks, and draped on hangers everywhere. Shoe racks beneath them contained boots, slippers, flip-flops, formal shoes, casual shoes and sneakers by the hundreds. Hovering in the middle of the room was an illusion that looked exactly like Harry, for him to try outfits on and see what they looked like. Again, everything was gold, except the red carpet and the painted walls and ceiling.

The sitting room was large, probably half as large as the Great Hall. A large fireplace big enough to floo in was against one wall, with two three-seater couches around it and a coffee table as well. Above the fireplace was a large image of a shield, with a red lion rampant on the gold background. A six-seater table made of mahogany touched with mother-of-pearl was at the far end of the room, with six matching seats around it. Three doors led away from this room. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, throwing refracted light around. Red and gold rugs lined the floor, the walls were golden and the rest of the furniture was covered in red. Locked onto a wall was a shield with the red lion rampant on the golden background.

He returned to the bedroom, which was now his by right, and headed for the fireplace. He stepped into it, feeling the flames lick up around him,

"Take me to the Dueling Rooms," he murmured.

This time, when he stepped from the fire-pit, he emerged in a white room. It was immense, and clearly for fighting use. Ten targets were at differing distances from the wall, and some moved, others didn't. Lining one wall were humanoid dummies, each armed with different weapons. Swords, axes, shields, maces, staffs, glaives, spears, bows and wands, all were carried in different combinations. There were a further two dummies that were unarmed, but still intended for the same idea, to fight him. A human shaped, 3D target was also against the wall, and would measure the accuracy and the power behind spells he sent at it. The opposite wall had an impressive array of weapons in racks. Harry went through the single door, and found himself in a virtual reality room. It was meant to teach in a real-life situation, where you'd have to avoid and overcome natural obstacles that you'd encounter in the outside world.

Harry flicked his wrist, drawing his sword, and at the same time he activated a sword wielding dummy. Over the dummy's head flashed glowing numbers that changed rapidly, going from -50 up to 50.

"Level 0," Harry said clearly, wanting to test it's capabilities and thinking that half way would be as good as any. The glowing number halted at 0, and then the dummy leapt at him. Harry blocked swiftly, admiring the spells that had made it. The spells had given it faster reflexes than was humanly possible, and strength that surpassed anything Harry had ever seen. It would never tire as well, but it didn't remember previous fights and so didn't learn as it went, to keep testing the fighter. Harry made a mental note to see if he could adjust that when he had the time.

Harry parried, struck and dodged constantly for an hour, constantly evaluating and correcting his own work as well as checking the dummy's level. He was always hard pressed to stay on his feet as their swords met, and to parry or dodge a swing. He wondered what it'd be like at level 50, but didn't particularly want to find out quite yet.

When he left the Dueling Chamber, five minutes before eight and returned to his dorms, showered and changed, Ron was fast asleep. He was the only one still in bed, and Harry shoved his friend,

"Get up!" Ron mumbled something under his breath and just rolled over. Grinning, Harry drew his wand and conjured a bucket of water and turned it upside down above Ron's head. He Vanished the bucket, and then fled the dorms to the sound of Ron's yells and the rest of the boys' laughter.

Still laughing, Harry descended the stairs, his bag slung over one shoulder. Hermione was waiting at the bottom of the boys stairs, and raised an eyebrow at Harry's laughter.

"What's all the screaming about?" she inquired," and where's Ron?"

"Ron...he's in a soaking wet bed. And the screaming is because he just woke up," Harry chuckled.

"Let me guess, you woke him up?" Carmen laughed as she joined them. Harry nodded, and then jumped the last two steps as Ron came tearing down the stairs in his pajamas.

"HARRY POTTER!!!" he shouted, brandishing his wand threateningly, ""WHY DID YOU DUMP WATER ON MY HEAD?!!"

"Because you wouldn't wake up. Now, if I were you, I'd go change. We've got breakfast in three minutes and there are some girls down here," Harry responded between bursts of laughter. Everyone currently in the common room tittered as Ron turned bright red and literally flew back up the stairs.

Two minutes later, Ron was down, changed into his school robes. He had to go back up when Hermione pointed out he'd forgotten his books, and by the time they arrived in the Great Hall, it was nearly quarter past eight. They sat down at the table, and began to eat. Ron pointedly said nothing to Harry for the next ten minutes, only glared at him. Harry wasn't all that worried, Ron would get over it, he had when Fred had done the exact same thing the morning before. It had taken twenty minutes for Ron to forget, and they were back to being friends.

Sure enough, at just past half past eight, Ron started talking to Harry again as if nothing had happened. At the end of breakfast, McGonagall came around to hand out their schedules. Harry nodded his thanks to her, and scanned his schedule. Ron groaned,

"Double Potions first." Harry grinned, "and then we've got double Transfiguration." Ron sighed.

"It's only a double," Harry reminded him, "and we don't have Potions again until...tomorrow afternoon." Ron muttered under his breath.

"We don't want to be late," Hermione dragged them off to the dungeons.

They took their seats, and slowly the rest of the class filed into the room. Moments after the last Gryffindor had taken their seat; the door slammed open again and in strode the black bat. Snape's cloak billowed behind him as he spun to fix the class with a death glare. Used to it by now, the only one who cringed was Neville. Somehow, Neville had managed to scrape an E in Potions, and Neville said that McGonagall had forced Snape to take him on. McGonagall was a good friend of his Gran's, and had done it as a favor for her.

"Welcome to NEWT Preparation Potions," his menacing gaze swept the class, "now that I have _most _of the dunderheads from my class, we can get down to some real work. But I want to warn you now, just because you managed to scrape an O doesn't mean you are ready for this class. A fluke is enough to grant you an O, and each year some students who don't deserve it get into this class. Regardless of your OWL results, if you are not up to standard constantly, you will be removed from this class, and it is not uncommon for many students to leave before Christmas Break." Harry smiled inwardly, there was no way he was leaving. His level of potion knowledge and expertise was equivalent to any Potions Master, and in some areas above and beyond a Master.

**I see what you mean about his temperament,** Carmen agreed, **he's a bit like Donmensic was.**

**Not quite as bad though, he hasn't actually gone out of his way to kill me yet. He actually tried to save me in my first and third years,** Harry remarked. He waited for the moment when Snape would pick on him, as the teacher's gaze landed on him. He was mildly surprised when Snape simply continued on; maybe he was learning not to provoke Harry.

"The first half of this term will be devoted to Healing Potions, as many of you are hoping to one day end up as Aurors or Healers." Harry wondered who had opted to become a Healer, and then remembered Hermione. She hadn't decided whether she wanted to be an auror or a healer and as such had taken classes for both of those career paths.

"In your NEWTs, you will work alone, and as such we will no longer use partners. The instructions are on the board, get started!" There was a lot of scraping as people began pulling out ingredients and cauldrons. Harry scanned the list on the board, it had no title, but Harry was sure he recognized it. The only problem was he wasn't quite sure what potion it was. He had this problem often, especially with the simpler versions of potions. He'd learnt them all, but he made the more complex and powerful more often and so remembered them better. He rarely had reason to brew the lesser potions, as he used the stronger healing potions. Especially when ancient potions and foreign potions seemed to be more powerful then modern ones.

With a sigh, he began to cut the ingredients. As he worked, he thought over each ingredient, trying to remember what potion this was supposed to be. He added a single unicorn hair, and began chopping up some bat liver. He frowned, he couldn't figure it out. Slowly the potion changed from brown to blue and then to pink as he added more ingredients.

As he added the last ingredient, he suddenly remembered it. It was the Healing Dreamless Sleep Potion, which was basically the Dreamless Sleep potion but with a healing potion added into it. It was a middle-rated by modern levels, but simple compared to ancient levels. He personally used a more advanced version, with a much stronger healing potion. He rarely used potions except when injured quite badly, and so needed the stronger ones rather then the weak ones. He stirred the potion five times, and then smiled. It was a dark pink color and looked almost perfect. He glanced at Snape, who was wandering among the Slytherins, and quickly bottled up several vials of his potion, pocketing them. He was likely to have dreams of Voldemort, and they'd come in handy.

He took a single vial of the liquid and took it up to Snape's desk. He put it down on the desk, and returned to his seat. He poured the rest of his potion into a large jar he had brought with him, and pocketed it as well. Throwing it out would be a waste, and he could find uses for it anyway.

Snape stormed to the front of the class,

"Your homework is four feet on this potion. Find out its name, its uses, list its ingredients etc." he snapped at them, "it's due tomorrow at the beginning of class." Harry scribbled that down, and then started packing up. This would be an easy assignment.

**Easy, easy, **Carmen sang in his head.

"A warning; anyone who gets less then an 'E' on both assignments will be sent for Remedial Potions," Snape said dangerously, glaring at Neville. Neville gulped, and hurriedly fled the classroom. The trio finished packing their things up, and left the dungeons, making their way up towards the Transfiguration classroom.

"It's a double Transfiguration," Hermione told them, "and then...?"

"Double Charms," Harry answered,

"You'll have to start arranging Quidditch Try-outs," Ron reminded Harry in a louder tone.

"I was thinking about this Saturday," Harry replied, "so we can start Quidditch practice on Sunday." Ron nodded,

"Sounds good."

By now they had entered the Transfiguration classroom and hurried to the front of the room. Professor McGonagall was sitting at her desk, writing. The class slowly filled up, and only when the last student had arrived did the Head of Gryffindor look up. She swept the classroom with a stern look,

"Welcome to NEWT Preparation Transfiguration," she began, "this year you will be beginning to prepare for your NEWTs, which will be next year. We have a lot to cover, so it is necessary that you pay attention, complete your homework and practice. Anyone caught fooling around, or if they are not up to standard will have to leave this class."

"Animating is when you make things move that shouldn't normally move," she explained, "hence the term 'animate'. These things that you animate have no free will or soul, and simply do what you animate them to do. They have their own mind, so to speak, as they will decide in what order they do things, but they can only do what you tell them to. Before we begin the practical aspect, I would like you to read Chapters 1 and 2 of your text book 'Advanced Transfiguration' by Emric Switch."

Harry opened his book and began to skim the chapters. He'd read all this before, and was an accomplished animator, but he needed to appear as though he was reading. Knowing that Carmen was also skimming, he linked their minds.

**So, what do you think of your first Potions class?** he inquired.

**The teacher could be better, a lot better,** she grumbled, **and the work is really easy.**

**Well, we have studied to a Mastery level in pretty much every subject,** Harry pointed out, **of course it's going to be easy. Which leaves more time for us to do what we want. **There was a pause, and then Carmen spoke up,

**I have an idea for the DA. Voldemort will attack Hogwarts eventually, and we'll be hard pressed to keep his entire army back, as he'll no doubt have several thousand beings under his control before he attacks us. What if we trained the DA to fight him? Choose the best and train them hard, so they can help us. **

**We'll call down the BSS agents, there will be enough people, **Harry stated, **I don't want to put other students in that sort of danger.**

**Harry, even calling in every other BSS agent above the age of seventeen and below fifty from all over the world, there are only a couple of thousand agents. Voldemort will have ten or twenty thousand. We're good, but not that good, **Carmen argued, **we need as much help as we can.**

**The Aurors, **Harry suggested.

**The Aurors,** Carmen snorted mentally, **they are barely trained and there are only a couple of hundred. And that's even assuming we can convince them to fight.**

**The elves then, **Harry reminded her.

**We can't ask them to fight our war. The elves are untouchable where they are, they are not dependant on the outside world for anything, **Carmen shook her head, **we could call in maybe a couple of thousand archers and fighters, but no more. Remember that the elves don't have a standing army; they haven't had a war for four thousand years. With all that, it'll be maybe four and a half thousand fighters against ten thousand. That's more than two to one odds. With the DA we might only be able to get another fifty fighters, but they'll be fifty fighters who were trained by the Valeru.**

**The Order of the Phoenix, though, **Harry said desperately, not wanting to send his fellow students into danger.

**The Order of the Phoenix does nothing. They are too few and none are in prominent positions except Dumbledore, who doesn't use his power to do what he needs to, **Carmen shot back, **a total of another fifty fighters, poorly trained fighters at that. Harry, I'm sorry, but we _need_ the DA. You know that as well as I. **Harry gave the mental equivalent of a sigh, and there was a long pause.

**At the first DA meeting, we'll see what their response is, **Harry said finally.

**Certainly,** Carmen's relief was obvious, even without his empathy. Harry knew she didn't want to do it either, but she'd always been better at looking at things practically.

Harry switched back to the outside world, and continued scanning. There was silence in the room, other then the occasional rustle as a page was turned, or a startled exclamation of understanding.

Half an hour later, most of the students were finished and waiting. McGonagall looked up finally, as the last person placed their book down.

"For the remainder of this class, you will spend your time attempting to animate your figures," she informed them, "remember that the more moves you give the object, the harder the spell is to cast. Miss. Granger, please hand out the figurines." McGonagall gestured to a box of muggle toy animals on her desk. Hermione collected the box and began going around the class, handing out the tiny toys.

Harry chose a stag in memory of his father. He felt tears begin to prick his eyes as he gazed at the stag standing proud and tall. He felt a phantom embrace surround him, and pure love flow down the mental connection between Carmen and himself. He smiled faintly and looked up to see Hermione looking at him worriedly. He gave her a half-smile, and then flicked his wrist to loosen his wand.

"Animo," Harry watched as Ron flicked his wand. His Gryffindor lion shuffled up and down the table, although it wasn't very 'walk' like.

"Good, Mr. Weasley, five points to Gryffindor," McGonagall said, appearing beside him, "please try to add more actions now." Ron nodded, looking happy.

"Animo," Hermione muttered, swishing her wand. Her eagle flapped its wings and took off into the air. Harry watched as the eagle circled once and then landed.

"Very good, Miss Granger, ten points to Gryffindor," McGonagall nodded to her, "see if you can get it to dive." Hermione nodded. McGonagall turned to Harry expectantly.

He pointed his wand at the figurine, clearly imagining the moves he wanted, but trying not to overdo the power and showing he already knew how to do it.

"Animo." He flicked his wand, and waited with baited breath. The stag's head was the first to move, turning to regard Harry. Then it started moving across the table, its hooves making sound as they came down on the table. It wasn't very smooth, but you got the idea. By now, the class was silent as everyone turned to watch the stag moving smoothly across the desk.

"Impressive, Mr. Potter," McGonagall broke the silence in the classroom, "twenty points to Gryffindor for that amazing display. Well, what are you waiting for? Get back to work!" This last was aimed at the rest of the class. Harry glanced at Ron, who was looking at him in awe and surprise, and a faint tinge of jealousy.

**You know what, I think you need to work on controlling how well you do,** Carmen noted, **you'll attract too much attention if your level of work suddenly sky-rockets.**

**I know,** Harry replied glumly.

That lesson Harry spent most of it watching the rest of his class-mates attempt the spell. Hermione got it quickly, and was soon moving her figure well, if not as well as Harry. Ron was a bit slower, but by the end of the class, he too was comfortable and confident with the spell. Carmen was being overly careful, making sure she was just behind Hermione.

"For homework, I'd like a foot and a half on this spell, remember to include his uses, effects, and variations," McGonagall called as the bell went and people scrambled to pack up, "it's to be on my desk at the beginning of class tomorrow."

The next class was Double Charms. Harry, Ron and Hermione slid into their seats mere seconds before the bell went off, and Professor Flitwick hopped onto his stack of books.

"Welcome to NEWT Preparation Charms," he squeaked, "for the first part of this term, we will be learning healing charms. Healing spells are very important to know if you are considering a profession such as a mediwizard or an auror, as these jobs often require you to heal either yourself or someone else. Even a Potions Master will need to know these spells in case of a potion gone wrong, or an accident in the laboratory. Please open your books to Chapter 1 in Charms for Use in the Home, and start reading that chapter." Harry sighed, and pulled out his book. More boring reading, they seemed to be doing a lot of that today.

Half an hour later, the students placed their books down and turned back to the Charms Professor.

"Today we will be working on minor cuts and bruises like we did last year, as a refresher, before we move onto more major spells," the tiny man informed them, "you know the spell, 'Anducin'. You may also practice any other minor healing spell we have learnt, such as numbing spells. You can start now." Harry paired up with Ron immediately, leaving Hermione to join Carmen from somewhere else.

"Do you want to start?" Ron offered. Harry shrugged,

"why not?" he tapped Ron's arm with his wand, "Anduc." A small cut appeared on Ron's arm, which Harry promptly healed again with another charm.

"Engourdi," he tapped again, numbing Ron's arm before muttering the counter charm. A couple of minutes later and he'd run through all of the charms he could think of that they'd learned in Hogwarts. It was proving difficult for him to remember what he'd learned at Hogwarts, and what he'd learned at the BSS.

"My turn," Ron said, drawing his wand. Like Harry, he quickly and mechanically ran through the list of spells he knew, which was somewhat shorter then Harry's. He clearly hadn't studied at all over the summer, or even reviewed the spells from last year, as it took him several tries to get the cutting charm right, before even attempting to heal the wound.

They were among the first to finish, with Hermione finishing last because of her wide variety of spells that she used upon her partner, not to mention Carmen, who showed off further by going through numerous major spells. Carmen and Harry had decided together that her forte was going to be Charms and Care of Magical Creatures, while Harry's would continue being DADA and Dueling. They would let Hermione remain top in Transfigurations, Potions and Herbology, as well as her other classes that the two didn't attend. Carmen, like Harry, was taking DADA, Dueling, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, COMC, Herbology, as well as Ancient Runes. Hermione looked rather stunned that Carmen knew all the spells and could pull them off without a hitch.

Moments after Carmen had completed it, the bell rang for the end of class, and in the mad scramble, only a few people heard Professor Flitwick calling out,

"For homework, I'd like two feet on the properties and uses of the healing spells that you know already!" Harry grinned, few people would do the homework because few people had heard the instructions. Flitwick climbed down from his stack of books, and the quartet escaped the room just as the next class poured in.

"I didn't know you were that good in Charms," Hermione said as soon as they'd left the room. Carmen shrugged,

"Charms and Care of Magical Creatures have always been my strengths," she answered.

They made their way outside the school building, towards the greenhouses. It was time for Herbology, and they were in Greenhouse 2 today. They entered the familiar glass building, and took their seats. The rest of the class dribbled in, a mixture of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. Most people had gotten into Herbology, as the necessary mark had only been an Acceptable.

Professor Sprout entered and went straight to the front of the classroom, where she turned to face them all.

"Good morning," she greeted them, "and welcome to NEWT Preparation Herbology. Like in your other subjects, this first part of the term will be covering mainly plants that are used in a variety of healing potions. Herbology will be useful in professions such as Potion Making, Healing, and Aurors." She glanced around the class,

"Today we will be learning about a specific plant found only in New Zealand. Now if you look over at that shelf over there, you will see some plants. Can anyone tell me what they are called?" Hermione's hand shot up, as did Neville's. The plant was a pale blue moss with tiny yellow flowers in it. Harry had not clue what it was.

"Mr. Longbottom?" Sprout inquired.

"It is called Endagne," Neville told her.

"Correct, five points to Gryffindor," she said approvingly, "now, can anyone tell me what properties it has?" Again, Neville's and Hermione's hand shot up, as well as a Hufflepuff's.

"Mr. Elspeth?" Sprout asked.

"The moss itself is used in potions due to its ability to relieve both pain and discomfort," the boy answered, "without damaging nerves. The flower is very useful in slowing the spread of minor illnesses such as coughs and colds. The pollen in it is inhaled to heal lung damage caused by pneumonia or other such illnesses."

"Very good, ten points to Hufflepuff," Sprout awarded him, "now, what potions is it included in? Miss Granger?"

"It is generally found in healing potions that are intended to relieve pain, slow spreading illnesses and poisons, as well as healing internal organs. The most common potion that it is used in is the house-hold cold potion," Hermione explained.

"Correct, ten points to Gryffindor," Sprout agreed, "now, is there anything special about the way it is picked?" Neville's hand was the only one in the air, even Hermione looked puzzled. Harry and Carmen knew the answer, but wouldn't put their hand up while hiding their talents.

"Mr. Longbottom?" Sprout inquired.

"For the moss to be effective, it must be gathered whole on a full moon in the first or sixth month of the year. The flower itself can only be collected on a moonless night, on the winter or summer solstice," Neville answered, "and from there the pollen can be taken any time."

"Good, ten points to Gryffindor," Sprout nodded, "now, please do not inhale the pollen. When you are not ill, it is dangerous, and may cause you to become ill or send you unconscious for a while. We will be using tweezers to take the pollen, please use your dragon-hide gloves."

Harry nodded his thanks as the teacher set a pair of large pieces of moss in front of him along with a pair of tweezers and about ten vials. Harry picked up the tweezers and began to remove the pollen from the plant, as the rest of the students began to work.

A few minutes later there was a cry, and a thud. Harry peered down the table, and saw a Hufflepuff collapsed on the table. Sprout clucked her tongue disapprovingly,

"He inhaled the pollen," she shook her head, "Mr. Elspeth, could you please take Mr. Gregorn to the hospital wing?" A Hufflepuff boy levitated the boy and headed out of the greenhouse. Harry's last glimpse of him had him heading into the school building. Harry turned back to his work, carefully removing the pollen from the flowers and placing it in the vials. After filling each vial with pollen, he stopped it up and placed it in the tray provided for it.

An hour and a half after they entered the greenhouse, the class exited again, chattering happily. The quartet left the greenhouse, chatting as they headed to Care of Magical Creatures. It was only a single period, and then they had the next period off before dinner. Ron and Harry finished classes for the day then, while Hermione still had double Arithmancy after dinner, before she was finished.

Harry turned his brain off during his last class, unable to concentrate as his mind drifted from subject to subject. Not that he really needed to, he knew all the stuff anyway.Every so often he would nod absently in response to whatever Hagrid said. By the end of the class, the only thing he could say about the lesson was that they'd been reviewing everything they'd learnt the year before. Hagrid had quizzed them on different things they'd covered, and awarded and removed points accordingly. Harry _had_ noticed that he always gave more to and took away less from Gryffindor then any other house.

He had roused himself sufficiently by the end of class to take down the homework (write 3 feet on what they had reviewed that day) and follow his friends up to Gryffindor Tower for the single period they had before dinner. Eager to get rid of their homework and start reading the Animangi books, Harry and Ron started their homework without Hermione's prompting. It was lucky no-one else was in the Common Room or they would have wondered what was happening. Carmen had started her homework anyway, as she was used to getting it out the way.

Harry started with the Potions essay, thinking over what he knew of the potion. Ron still hadn't figured out which potion they had made earlier, and Hermione had to explain all about it.

"The Healing Dreamless Sleep Potion is like a Dreamless Sleep Potion mixed with a Healing Potion. It puts the drinker into dreamless sleep and then the healing potion speeds up the body's natural healing and lets the body heal itself while the drinker sleeps," Hermione explained, "look it up in Healing Potions." Grumbling under his breath, Ron flipped open the book and began to write his essay, constantly referring back to his chart.

Harry began to write, starting with a description of what the potion was intended to do. He was careful to avoid too much detail, which would make his teachers suspicious, but put in enough to scrape him an O.

Harry stretched and rolled his neck to release tension as he pushed aside his Transfiguration essay nearly three hours later. Even though he knew a lot of information, it didn't help his homework time. He had more to say now, which made up for research time. It had taken him an hour to complete two essays. The extra time had been spent in the Great Hall, having dinner. He was comforted by the fact that Ron was still struggling through the first part of the Transfiguration essay. Hermione, on the other hand, had finished her third essay and was currently in her last class of the day, Arithmancy. Her days were completely filled with classes, each day she worked from 9:00 until past 8:30. Carmen had completely finished her homework, and was currently lazing around, smirking at Harry.

Harry pulled a fresh piece of parchment towards him, and opened his Charms book to start on his Charms essay. Sighing, he missed the nine years where he hadn't had homework, he lowered his quill to the page and began to write.

A/N: I am currently working on the next chapter, so it shouldn't be too long in coming. Please review though.

E.N. Love it, love it, and love it! Now, if people don't review no new chapters will be put up! So......REVIEW PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Please?)


	11. Chapter 11 Masters' Papers

**Chapter 11 – Master's Papers**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past, and if so, I apologise.

Nogoalikeme: I know, I hate doing homework, so it's harder.

Anonymous: I'm not Spanish, but one of my close friends is. I was wondering if anyone would pick up on the name thingy, but you are right, I started writing this after watch SpyKids too many times. Lol. As for the blood lines, they're not prejudiced, but they know they are different, and that it can dilute such strong magical lines. Muggle blood does make a difference and whether they're prejudiced or not has no effect on whether Voldemort can claim the bloodline. It'd be like saying that just because I don't like George Bush, he will suddenly become George Ham. My opinion can't change that. The blood-line thing was more of a joke, although it becomes more important later in the story.

Talons: They won't figure it out for a while, but they will eventually. As for the dueling, he won't reveal his powers. It won't be very major, because Gregorio and Ingrid know his powers obviously, and won't call on him.

Shadower Rains: Sorry about the review responses, I'm just responding to longer reviews now, so hopefully it won't be so bad. How did your English paper go?

Treck: that's so sweet of you.

Arye: he won't tell anyone about it actually, keep it to himself for a while. He'll only tell them a bit later.

Entityjerry: For the potions thingy, you're not supposed to know, and I didn't realize I did that. My beta doesn't seem to be doing her job. As for the Quidditch try-outs, I forgot, but it doesn't really matter who arranges it, does it? Sides, I wouldn't question McGonagall either. And if Wood couldn't find a seeker before that, shrugs? And I'm not the other author to have done it like this. I know, for the sake of cannon and all that, but hey, this is _fan_fiction. In the fifth book even, the Quidditch team chooses the players. As for the wards, there are wards preventing apparation into it. It could be like a bubble so that you can't get through it, but once inside they could. No-one's ever actually said. As for the paintings, I don't have the time or inclination to sit down and measure every painting and decide upon dimensions. As for the floor area, I was talking about the centre four stones. If I weren't so polite and I knew that you wouldn't report me, I'd probably call you a few names right about now. Now that that's over, if you don't like my story, DON'T READ IT!

TheFirstOne: I feel the same way about Harry, but I doubt he'll become lax, as you'll see in this chapter. I posted so many because I thought you deserved some more to read.

Silvermage99: thanks for the review. I don't take it as a flame, because it's obviously not. I hadn't realized with the transitions, but there's not much I can do about that. You'll see a bit more about the Phoenix Room in this chapter, but it's not all that major, I think. I'm kind-of winging it with this story, so I'm not sure what's important and what isn't. lol. I know it's not the best way, but… as for the spelling, oh, I hadn't realized. Can u correct me? cos my books are being borrowed at the moment? Diamond of Light was nice, I liked it, but it was grating on my nerves a bit because I kept getting flamed.

Thanks to Crissy Potter, Fireflashphoenix, Anonymous, HecateDeMort, Zhuyou, Eliphelet, Dave-gerecke, Bobboky, Pinaygrl3123, Lady of Masbolle, Egyptian Flame, Emikae, Harry Granger and Zaxxon for their reviews.

**Telepathic speech**

_Beast speech_

Chapter 11

Harry restrained himself from screaming in frustration as he sat in Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore was trying to teach him Occulmancy, and making a mess of it. If Harry had been hearing all this for the first time, he knew he'd be utterly confused. Nonetheless, he knew what he was doing. He had spent the entire night previously carefully erecting wards around his thoughts and memories that related to the BSS, the elvish realm and all that had happened that summer, all things that he couldn't afford to have Dumbledore find out about. Then he'd sorted his mind so it appeared to be a jumbled mess like everyone else's, but still functioned at the level he was used to.

He waited as Dumbledore explained, for the fourth time, how to clear his mind of thoughts. Obediently, he attempted it. He let his mind clear naturally, but then nudged stray thoughts in. Even if Dumbledore was listening in on his mind, he'd sense nothing of what Harry was doing to circumvent Dumbledore's methods. Maintaining the illusion that he couldn't master Occulmancy was crucial to convincing Dumbledore that he couldn't afford to give Harry Animangi lessons, and would help if someone else tried to invade his mind. It'd confuse him while he worked on getting them out again.

They'd been at this for an hour already, and both of them were frustrated, but for different reasons. Harry did feel a bit guilty for causing Dumbledore the worry that his apparently open mind would cause him, but ruthlessly over-rode it with the thoughts of what would happen if Dumbledore knew he'd left Privet Drive during the summer. All through the last hour, Carmen had been in constant contact, soothing his ruffled mind as he grew more and more frustrated. He knew that it was his fault he was so frustrated, if he hadn't had to pretend not to understand Dumbledore wouldn't have had to repeat the instructions four times.

He almost cheered when Dumbledore at last abandoned it for that day.

"You'd best go now Harry," he said wearily, "we're both tired and can't concentrate. We'll try again tomorrow. Remember to practice." Harry rose, nodding,

"Yes, sir." He turned and left the room. Dumbledore was right, he was exhausted emotionally and mentally from having to block out Dumbledore's emotions and feelings while maintaining the illusion that his mind was a jumbled mess. Dumbledore didn't have control of his inner emotions, only the outer appearances of it. An empath in his presence was constantly bombarded with emotions, especially one as strong as Harry. It was as bad as when Harry was among all the students, except that then he could keep up the strongest mental shields possible, which shielded him from all emotions except Carmen, Ingrid and Gregorio.

He pulled those shields up now, as he made his way to a deserted hall-way. He concentrated on the Phoenix Chamber and apparated. He reappeared in the Phoenix Chamber and headed straight for the fire,

"Take me to the Dueling Chambers."

A few minutes later he was dueling a dummy with staffs, working off his frustration and emotions. He was faintly aware of two presences watching him. Twenty minutes later, he stopped. After switching off the dummy, he turned around.

"Carmen," he sent her a soft smile, "mother."

"You're not mad at me for not telling you, are you?" she asked tentatively. He shook his head,

"no, we didn't really need to know. I'm currently frustrated at Dumbledore, that's all."

"Well, maybe this'll take your mind off him," Ingrid said, brandishing two folders. Harry walked over,

"what are they?" Ingrid smirked,

"I…arranged to have Valatros University send you entrance exam papers for all possible courses, so you can choose which ones to do. I…explained your unique position and if you pass the exams, you can do correspondence courses. It's a bit slower then if you were actually there, but in the next two years you should be able to get at least one Bachelor's under your belt," she hesitated, "and I got them to agree for you two to stay over the Christmas, Easter and summer breaks if you want. With those, you might be able to get a Masters." Harry's eyes lit up, but Carmen spoke,

"good, I'm already bored in class." Valatros University was the most prestigious university in the world, and it was in Australia. It's entrance exams were very strict. If you graduated from Valatros, even at the bottom of the class, you were guaranteed a good job. Classes for a basic degree had only ten or twelve students, and classes for masters had only three or four students each year. Valatros was unique in that it allowed the students to study muggle as well as wizarding classes, the muggle classes from secondary school and up. Ingrid laughed,

"yes, there isn't much any of the teachers here can teach you in the ordinary course of things. If you went for private lessons they could, as even you two aren't all-knowing, but in general school, I'm afraid not. That's why I thought I'd get you the correspondence courses, although you'll have to hide it from the teachers, students and your friends."

"Illusions will do if anyone catches us," Harry said slowly, "it'll be hard to get away to do it though. Hermione's got classes, so that's fine, but Ron has the same classes as me."

"The double illusions," Carmen suggested, "they'll work fine for a couple of hours, but we'll have to be back before they start to dissipate. We can do some work in the common room as well, if we disguise the parchment to appear to be an essay."

"How did you get away now?" Ingrid asked. Harry blushed,

"I didn't. Ron has no idea where I am." Ingrid shook her head,

"I think you two need to lead normal lives during the day. At night, once your dorm mates are asleep, create a double to sleep in your bed, and then come down here. Endurance potions will get you through a couple of hours of practice and a couple of hours of work. If you keep disappearing, people are going to wonder what's happened. When you get detentions, I'll arrange for you to serve it with me or Gregorio, and you can work on your papers then. Although when this all comes out into the open, we can't say anything about the detentions, or I'll end up in trouble too." Harry nodded, taking one folder.

"I'll see you in class then," Ingrid said, handing the other folder to Carmen before she vanished.

"You go shower and change, and then let's head back to the common room," Carmen ordered. Harry nodded, and strode into the fire,

"take me home."

Ten minutes later, he emerged, dressed and ready to return to the Gryffindor common room. He concentrated and reappeared in his dorm. He'd barely appeared when the door swung open and Dean walked in. He quickly cast an invisibility spell on the folder, as Dean looked over at him. He grinned at Dean and then headed down to the common room, weaving an elaborate spell as he went. The contents of the folder he carried would simply seem like his most recent Transfiguration essay to all but him.

He settled down in the almost deserted common room and pulled out the array of different entrance papers. As he looked over them, he thought about what he wanted to study. At the top each spectrum were Potion Masters, Herbology Masters, Master Charmers, Transfiguration Masters, Master Translators, Arithmancy Masters, Muggle Experts, Master Divinators, Master Healers, Master Animal Managers, Master Defense Specialists, Master Spell Crafters, Master Lawyers, Professors of Magic, Astronomy Masters, among many others. Then, in the muggle side of it, he could study Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Acting, Art, Music, Languages, History, Culture and Geography for secondary school, and then at a university level, Harry could learn muggle law, medicine, archeology, accounting and engineering among others.

Studying muggle biology and chemistry could come in handy in potion brewing and spell casting, as would mathematics. He remembered most of what he'd learned in those subjects in primary school. The others weren't quite as important, although interesting. He also wanted to try for Defense Specialists, Spell Crafters, Healer, Potions, Transfiguration and Charms. There was no Dueling degree, or he'd go for that. He'd only have time for one course, especially if he wanted a Masters by the time he left Hogwarts. That meant it would be best to try for one of the magic oriented ones, and the ones most likely to help him in applying to be an Auror would be Defense Specialist, Healer and Spell Crafter. Spell Crafting was fun, but took years of dedication and work to create even one perfect spell. Healing would land him in the healing side of the Auror program, which meant he wouldn't get to use his other specialized abilities. That left Defense Specialist.

He put the rest away and took that piece of parchment only. After looking around the room, and spotting only Carmen and two first years, he set to work.

Harry grinned as he read through the questions. Many of them were open-ended questions, inviting for a full length explanation. This was more interesting and fun. He began filling it in, carefully answering each question. As he worked, he wondered how it was going to work. They couldn't evaluate his practical work if he wasn't there, only his theoretical. Shrugging, he dismissed the matter and continued filling in the questions.

Harry slid into his seat in the DADA classroom, waiting. As his friends joined him, Harry gave them all warm smiles. His head snapped around as Ingrid's voice pierced the chatter.

"If I may have your attention?" The simple sentence, though quiet and uncommanding, brought instant silence.

"Thank you. I am Professor Cortez," she informed them, "and I will be teaching you for the next two months. We will be starting with looking at shielding techniques. Any questions." One Hufflepuff boy raised his hand, and then spoke at her nod,

"What do you mean for the next two months? Are you leaving after that?"

"No, I'll be teaching the first through fourth years for the following two months and then I'll switch back to you. My husband and I are alternating teaching, so that it doesn't become boring," Ingrid explained, "any other questions?"

"No? Very well, let's begin. Can anyone tell me what a shield is?" Harry raised as hand, along with half the class.

"Miss. Abbot?"

"A shield protects the caster from harmful curses or spells," she answered.

"Not quite, but close. 3 points to Hufflepuff. Miss. Granger?"

"A shield protects something or someone from any spell or curse," Hermione recited, "although some shields are designed to protect against physical or mental attacks."

"Correct, five points to Gryffindor. Can anyone tell me about the different types of shield?" This time only Harry's, Carmen's, Hermione's and Hannah's hand went up.

"Miss. Cortez?" There was a murmur as people suddenly put two and two together, figuring out that Carmen was somehow related to their new teacher.

"There are the three basic types; magical, physical and mental shields, which protect against their namesake. They are further divided into three categories; body, direction and wall shields. Body shields protect the entirety of something from all directions, direction shields shield someone or something from one direction, and wall shields create a wall shield. Body and direction shields are used to shield smaller items and people, but cannot shield buildings or large items," Carmen explained.

"Correct, five points to Gryffindor. Can anyone tell me the different ways that shields work?" Harry was the only one to raise his hand this time. He knew that Carmen knew the answer, but this wasn't supposed to be her specialty.

"Mr. Potter?"

"There are four types of shield; deflection, reflection, absorption and dissipation. Deflection is when the spells or attack bounce off the shield, going in another direction. Reflection is when the spell is reflected back at the caster. Absorption is when the shield absorbs the power of the spell or attack and stores it to help it block more. Dissipation is when the spell or attack just vanishes upon touching the shield or can't get through. Dissipation is the most common shield, while the least energy absorbing is deflection. The rarest and most draining is absorption. Absorption shields can only be used against spells and mental attacks, while reflection and deflection can only be used against spells. Dissipation can be used against all three types of attack," he answered. It wasn't strictly true, he could reflect a mental attack on him, and he would end up inside his attacker's mind, instead of the other way round. There were also some very ancient, powerful and draining absorption shields that would allow him to absorb the energy into himself for use. There was even an ancient Grecian shield that worked in reverse, letting spells through it and then trapping them inside.

"Correct, five points to Gryffindor," she agreed, "now, can anyone tell me the most common shield? Miss Bones?"

"Isn't it the Protego shield? The minor dissipation body shield?"

"Yes, five points to Hufflepuff," Ingrid nodded, "can anyone here cast it? Mr. Potter?" Harry drew his wand,

"Protego!" The shimmering shield appeared around him, before fading as he released it with a second spell.

"Very good, Mr. Potter. Ten points to Gryffindor. As you heard, the incantation is Protego. Please pair up and take turns casting the shielding spell," Ingrid instructed. Harry paired up with Carmen, and the two of them set about cursing each other, each spell vanishing as it touched the shield. As they had moved to a dark corner of the room, none could see the small differences in the shields they cast. They worked on controlling how far away the spells were from their bodies.

**Pity she can't give us more advanced work, **Carmen sighed, **all our classes are boring.**

**Look at it this way, we practice the basics so our more advanced spells will have better foundations,** Harry pointed out as he cast a stunner at her, **but I agree with you. At least we'll have work more to our level soon.**

**Thankfully, **Carmen sounded bored as the stunner vanished, mere centimeters away from her nose.

**I'm coming over, get back to doing the exercise,** Ingrid warned them. Harry cast a shield at just above the level that most of the class would manage. A petrifying spell bounced off it as Ingrid walked over.

"Well done, Mr. Potter," she said to him aloud, **so have you decided what you're going to try for?**

"Thank you, Professor," he replied, **Defense Specialist. I'm trying for my Mastery by the time I leave Hogwarts.**

**Knowing your level of work and your reputation, I wouldn't be surprised if you can get the Mastery by the beginning of your seventh year,** Ingrid remarked, **what about you Carmen?**

"Can you block a stunner?"

"Stupefy!"

**Healer and Potions, **Carmen replied, **basic level in both.**

"Very good."

**Suitable to your talents,** Ingrid approved as she walked away.

Later that night, Harry was seated with Ron, Hermione and Carmen in a corner of the common-room.

"Since we're going to continue the DA, when should we have the first meeting?" Harry asked softly.

"A time when we're sure everyone can make it," Hermione said at once, "which means either late at night or in the weekend. But since we have to be back by nine pm, it leaves only the weekends in case we need a long meeting."

"Saturday then, Saturday morning, because I've arranged Quidditch try-outs on Saturday evening," Harry said.

"Have you posted it?" Ron asked eagerly. Harry nodded,

"it's up there."

"How are we going to alert people to it?" Carmen asked.

"Harry can change the date on his coin, just in case people still have it," Hermione quickly reminded them, "and we'll spread the word, discreetly. I mean, we can't get in trouble really, Umbridge is gone. But it might be best to be careful, keep word from Snape, Malfoy and the others." Harry nodded, pulling the coin from his pocket and changing the numbers.

"What about those that left Hogwarts last year?" Ron said softly, "Fred, George and the others."

"Well, Fred and George could come in handy," Harry said slowly, "you know, they could come up with ideas for training. What better way to learn to see traps then to be hit by a lasting prank every-time you missed?" Carmen grinned,

"They'll definitely learn. Especially if we make sure it lasts a couple of weeks," she grinned.

"They might be able to devise some battle weapons as well. You know, fake wands that bite off hands or something," Ron suggested eagerly.

"May as well invite the others," Hermione agreed, "they can help train the younger students."

"But _only_ if they're not part of the Order already," Carmen reminded them, "we don't want the Order tracking our progress. If they know, Voldemort is bound to find out somehow."

"Surely you don't think that someone could be spying for Voldemort in the Order, do you?" Hermione said softly, looking worried at the idea.

Harry could feel Carmen panic slightly but she looked calm on the outside. "No, of course I don't but you can never be careful enough. It wouldn't do to have Voldemort know our plans." Carmen smiled. Hermione nodded.

"So, does anyone remember who was in DA last year?" Ron asked.

Hermione nodded. "I kept the list in my trunk just in case." Harry nodded. That sounded like something she would do.

"Ok, well, if everything is sorted out, I'm going to go to bed. Classes took a lot out of me." Ron yawned to support the statement. Hermione agreed and together they went upstairs.

Harry cast a light silencing spell on him and Carmen so that no matter how close a person got, the conversation would be too soft to understand. They could talk normally though.

"You have to be a little more careful with how you word things," Harry said, leaning back and smiling lightly.

Carmen grinned. "I know but sometimes it's hard to remember what they know and what they don't." Harry nodded.

**Harry, Carmen.** Ingrid said through their link.

**What is it mother? **They said together. Harry could feel Ingrid's amusement.

**Sometimes you two are so alike that it scares me. Go to bed and come to me when everyone is asleep. I have news.**

**What kind of news?** Carmen gave voice to Harry's thoughts.

**You'll just have to see when you get here. Don't forget to make the double.** They knew better then to ask further.

"I wonder what kind of news she has for us…" Carmen sounded a little far away, telling Harry that she was thinking deeply.

"She didn't feel worried so it can't be something bad."

Carmen nodded. "Maybe she has the results entrance exams." They grinned at each other and went to their room, promising to tell each other when they would go.

"What is it, mother?" Harry asked as the two of them entered the room. Ingrid looked up,

"I have something from a close friend of yours," she informed them, rising gracefully, a broad grin on her face.

"Who?" Carmen asked.

"A certain mad inventor," Ingrid remarked, waving her hand at two boxes on the table.

"Brian!" Carmen squealed, and raced over to them. She ripped open one of the boxes, to reveal a pair of grey boots. Carmen blinked. Harry blinked. They both blinked. (A/N: Lol, I couldn't resist it)

"Boots?" Harry asked, disbelieving, "we already have boots."

"Hang on," Carmen was examining them, "I think I know what these are!" She pulled off her shoes and slid into the boots. She zipped them up and then straightened. She clicked her heels together, and there was a soft whooshing sound. She was hovering several inches of the ground, red flames burning from the bottom of her boots.

"Hover Boots," Ingrid explained, "not new technology really, but Brian's tweaked it a bit, combined a few techs. They can fly, as well as using water propulsion in water, and they'll change designs to match whatever you're wearing." That last had been demonstrated when they'd changed into black school shoes to match her Hogwarts robes.

"Useful," Harry remarked, slipping on his own.

"They are, of course, lined by manticore and dragon hide," Ingrid continued, "as per normal, and enchanted for comfort and protection."

"Naturally," Carmen said dryly. Harry rolled his eyes,

"do you know when we'll get our exam papers back?" he asked. Ingrid shrugged,

"it should be in the next few days, as you sent it yesterday. I have passed on the request to keep it all under wraps," she added, "and away from the Ministry and Dumbledore." Harry nodded,

"good, I want to get started."

"I never thought I'd see the day when Harry Potter _wants_ to study," Ingrid teased him, "I seem to remember having to argue with you about it a lot." Harry stuck his tongue out childishly, before grinning,

"I'm getting really bored in my classes. There's nothing to do." Carmen nodded,

"same here. And it's hard to make things harder by altering spells slightly in other classes, where the teachers could notice." Ingrid shook her head,

"there's not much you can do about that. But for now, we could start on our practices?" she suggested.

"Sure."

A/N: there that's finished. Hopefully you liked it, and I've given Harry something to do now.

E/N: Hey. Sorry that it took so long for Lady Urquentha to update. She was just stuck but I helped her through it. I'm so great. (distant mutter of "ya right") Anyway, Chapter 12 is coming up way sooner then Chapter 11. Trust me. ;)


	12. Chapter 12 The DA

**Chapter 12 – The DA**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past, and if so, I apologize.

**Telepathic speech**

_Beast speech_

Chapter 12

"GREGORIO! INGRID!" Harry burst into their office, waving a sheaf of papers, "I'm in!"

"Well done, dear," Ingrid embraced him warmly, smiling.

"I'm in too," Carmen added, following him in a bit more sedately.

"Congratulations," Gregorio kissed her affectionately on the head.

"Well, if you two want to have your diplomas by the time you finished seventh year, you'd better get cracking," Ingrid said briskly, "you'll have a lot of work to do."

Harry, Ron, Ginny, Kirke and Sloper headed outside to the Quidditch fields to get ready for the try-outs. People were already milling around, waiting.

"Right," Harry began briskly, "we have to find two chasers, as Ginny has said she'll take chaser position."

"I'm better at that anyway," Ginny shrugged.

"And a reserve team," Ron added, "in case someone's injured or banned or something." Harry nodded,

"We'll start with chasers since that's most important," he declared, "we'll have them go up in groups of two and go against Ron with Ginny, in a mini game with one beater. We're looking for people with fast, nimble flying abilities, a good aim and who work well as a team." The rest of the team nodded.

"All right!" Harry's voice was pitched to carry across the murmuring crowd, "all those trying out for chaser on the pitch please, everyone else head on up to the stands." A handful of about sixteen people remained on the field; six second years, four third years and three fourth years and three fifth years.

"We'll start by sending two of you up at a time to go with Ginny against Ron," Harry told them, "with Kirke being a beater. When you have had twenty shots, you'll land and the next group will go up. All right?" At their nods, Ginny, Ron and Kirke flew aloft.

"You two first," he pointed to two of the fourth years, who mounted their brooms and flew up into the air.

Harry leaned down and released a bludger from the case by his feet, and then threw the quaffle up to Ginny. He settled down to watch with Sloper, the two of them evaluating the two fourth years.

"The blonde girl, Feren, I think, has reasonable aim," Sloper commented, "but she can't work as a team." Harry nodded,

"We can't use her. She'll never get along with Ginny or whoever else we pick," he agreed.

"But the brunette's pretty good," Sloper continued, "good flying skills and team-work."

"But Beren will need some work on her aim," Harry argued, "she's had seven shots at the goal, only three went in." Sloper nodded,

"I agreed, but she's a possibility."

An hour and twenty minutes later, they were done with the chasers. After a moment's conference with his team, Harry turned to look at the candidates,

"We've come to our decision, we'd like to welcome Miss. Vera Delande to the team," the second year squealed her delight, "and Miss. Adelaide Janque." Janque had perfect aim, although she'd need some work on learning to maneuver her broom, and Delande had an okay aim but was good at flying. Neither was brilliantly talented, but they were the best of a bad bunch, and with some work they would be able to work as a team with Ginny enough to make it worth the effort.

"And for our reserve team, Mr. Jacob Teneshi, Mr. Henry Pack and Miss Arabella Horshie," he added.

The disappointed chaser candidates headed up to the stands as Harry called for the beaters to come down.

"We're going to have a mock battle," Harry announced, "you'll all go up with beater bats and try to knock each other off your brooms. But remember that just because you last the longest doesn't mean you'll get the position." The nine candidates were soon in the air, each armed with bats, and Harry released the bludgers.

The five members of the original team huddled as they examined the flyers above them.

"I like him," Ginny pointed, "strong arm and decent maneuvering."

"But he's not very good with aim," Ron shook his head, "it won't work."

"What about her?" Sloper wanted to know, "good maneuvering, decent aim, reasonable strength."

"A possibility," Ron agreed, "but she'll need some muscle toning to work up some force behind that bat."

"Oh, sweet Merlin!" Harry's eyes widened as he spotted their perfect beater, "look!"

"Dennis Creevy!" Ron exclaimed, "he's gotten so much better then last time I saw him."

"Good strength, decent aiming, and very maneuverable," Ginny agreed, "though a tad on the small size for a beater."

"I'm sure we can convince him to eat a bit more and grow," Kirke added, "he'd be perfect, better then us!"

"Which works, because I think I'll need to drop out," Sloper commented, "of the main team, I mean. I'm struggling to keep up with my class." Harry nodded,

"That's fine. We'll keep you in the reserve team, though." Sloper nodded his agreement.

"Mr. Dennis Creevy will be our second beater for our main team," Harry paused for Dennis to be quiet, "and Mr. Thomas André will be our second reserve beater, along with Sloper."

It was almost four hours after they began when Harry was finally trudging back to the dorm. They found their reserve team, and arranged their first practices. The main team would practice this Wednesday, and the reserve team would be on Thursday. He'd just come back from McGonagall's office, where he'd booked the pitch for those evenings to his Head of House's delight.

"So, when are you going to start the DA again?" Ginny asked as he sat down wearily. Harry shrugged,

"Sometime this week."

"You'd better go see if Dumbledore will officially sanction it this year," Hermione suggested, "then we don't have to conduct it in secret." Harry nodded,

"I'll see if I can talk to him tomorrow, because I've got Occulmancy then," he agreed. He glanced around them, and cast a wandless privacy charm.

"I was thinking, Hogwarts is one of the most important strongholds for the light," he began, "and that'll make it a target for Voldemort." Ron nodded,

"It's a strategic thing. Attack the strongholds and weaken them," he agreed.

"Exactly. But the thing is, I don't think the Order is strong enough to defeat him in pitched battle," Harry continued, "it's all well and good, but Voldemort has hundreds of people under his control."

"So, what do you suggest?" Carmen was pretending total innocence of the plan.

"We have the beginnings of an army in the DA," Harry stopped Hermione from interrupted, "let me finish. We can divide the DA into two levels, a basic and an advanced. We can give the advanced students the choice of joining a third group, our army. They'll have more frequent meetings, harder training sessions etc. All to prepare them in case they have to fight."

"I don't know, Harry," Hermione said worriedly, "they're only students."

"We're only students too, Hermione," Carmen reminded her, "and yet, I doubt any of us is not going to fight if Hogwarts is attacked." Ron nodded,

"This way, we can prepare them for battle, so they'll stand a chance of surviving the battle, instead of going in to be slaughtered," he clearly sided with Harry.

"We could almost implement the rule, fifth years and up only," Ginny suggested, as a compromise, "they'll have the power and training to survive best."

"Very well," Hermione agreed, albeit reluctantly.

"One more thing, Hermione," Harry leaned forward, "I'm not telling Dumbledore."

"What!" she exclaimed, "you have to."

"No!" Harry said urgently, "he won't let us. He'll insist the Order can handle it, and I, frankly, doubt it. I don't care if I get expelled for it later on; I want the students here to be trained well enough to survive."

"It's the only practical solution," Ron agreed. Hermione nodded reluctantly, as she seemed to be doing a lot lately.

"I'll speak to Dumbledore about it tomorrow," Harry said, "I've class first thing. If he gives us the go ahead I'll post a sign on the House boards. If he says no, we'll have to pass it around by word of mouth."

"Ah, good morning, Harry," the headmaster said jovially.

"Good morning, sir," Harry greeted him, "before we start, sir, I'd like to ask you if you would officially permit the DA to continue." Dumbledore's eye twinkle faded slightly before coming back full force,

"Certainly, my dear boy," he nodded, "as long as you change the name, and allow me to place a teacher in the room to help you." Harry accepted it,

"Yes, sir. But I have my own conditions as well," he paused for Dumbledore's permission to continue, "I have the right to refuse entry to any student who I deem unfit to be there, or a possible liability. Also, that I run it without interference from any of the teachers except the liaison."

"Agreed," Dumbledore nodded again, "as long as you have a legitimate reason to believe the student may be a hazard if they remain there. And that you do not exclude Slytherins simply because they are Slytherins." Harry nodded slowly,

"Certainly. As for the teacher liaison, how about one of the Professors Cortez? They are the Defense teachers?"

"I'll speak with them about it," Dumbledore nodded, "now, shall we get started?"

"He agreed!" Harry whispered to his friends as he joined them in Transfiguration.

"Yes?" Hermione nodded, "I'll make up signs during lunch, and we can post them after classes."

"Attention please, students," McGonagall faced them sternly.

"Mr. Potter, will you please remain behind?" Ingrid requested after DADA that afternoon. Harry waved his friends on, and waited.

"I hear the DA is being started up again?" Ingrid asked. Harry nodded,

"Are you to be the teacher helping us?" Ingrid nodded,

"I am. Where will you be meeting and when?" They had already decided that during lunch, and Hermione had written up the notices, which were to be hung on the notice board of each house.

"In the Room of Requirement, tomorrow evening at 7:30 pm," Harry answered. Ingrid nodded, having heard about that room earlier,

"I'll be there at 7," she promised, "would you like me to bring anything?" Harry thought for a moment,

"Not really. Just your wand."

"Okay," Ingrid nodded, and then smiled broadly, "I hear you had a few conditions of your own." Harry grinned,

"It's only fair."

At quarter to seven, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Carmen were watching Harry pace outside the Room of Requirement, concentrating on what he needed. At last a door appeared and they hurried into it. They were in a large room with stone surfaces that wouldn't be damaged by spells. There were dozens of seats in rows facing the front, and the far end was filled with bookshelves. As they were just going to start by practicing basic spells, there wasn't any need for anything else today. The five of them hurried around, doing last minute organizing and preparations.

At seven o'clock, Ingrid turned up.

"I'll be watching for today," she informed them, "to see how you run it." Harry nodded,

"sure. Just sit in the corner and enjoy the show." She flashed him a smile, and moved to the side, where a comfortable armchair appeared.

At about quarter past, students started to come in, murmuring and talking as they found seats.

**I hate public speaking** Harry grumbled.

**Well, you'd better get used to it, you're going to have a lot of it to do, **Ingrid informed him.

"Quiet, please!" Harry called, and the room slowly fell into silence. He scanned the crowd, noting that there were no Slytherins, as expected. Most of Gryffindor house was there, and about twenty from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw each, to make a total of about sixty students. It was limited to the third years and above.

"Professor Dumbledore has asked me to lead the DA this year," he began, "and that's why you're all here. This is a club, or an association, where we're learning defensive and offensive spells, dueling basically. We don't learn about creatures or anything like that, that's for DADA." Harry pointed into the corner,

"Professor Cortez will be watching us to help out if we get into problems," he added, "and my friends, Hermione, Ron and Carmen will be helping us run this." People twisted, spotting the woman for the first time.

"We will begin by practicing the disarming spell," Hermione spoke up, "and based on your level, we'll split you into three groups."

"I'll demonstrate the disarming hex," Carmen said, "anyone willing to volunteer?" After a moment a Gryffindor fourth year got up,

"I will." Carmen motioned for him to join her at the front.

"Watch closely, please," she lifted her wand, "Expelliarmous!" She neatly caught the boy's wand and then handed it back, with a smile. As the boy took her place, she continued,

"as demonstrated, this spell will disarm your opponent. If your spell is powerful enough, it may also send your opponent flying backwards. Pair up, please, and practice Expelliarmous on your partner."

The four of them exchanged looks, and began to move around the group, watching the students. They corrected each student as they passed, and made notes of where they thought they should be placed.

It was an hour later when all the students had managed to cast a successful hex, and the four met at the head.

"We'll just be a minute," Harry called to them, before they huddled. Hermione spoke first,

"all the DA members from last time can be put in one of the advanced groups," she began, "and there's a number of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs who can be put in as well…" she quickly named them.

"But the others need to stay in the basic group," Harry continued, "all right. The advanced students in fifth year and above will go to the room on the right with me, the advanced students below fifth year will go to the room on the left with Carmen. The basic will stay here with Ron and Hermione." The others nodded their agreement, and they separated.

Twenty minutes later, Harry was standing in a smaller room, facing a group of about thirty students. He took a breath,

"You lot are the most advanced students in fifth year and up," he began, "and I have a proposition to make. You are all aware that Voldemort has returned, correct?" There was a shudder, but they nodded their assent.

"However, I am not sure that you know what role Hogwarts will play in the war," he continued, "Albus Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort ever feared, and Albus Dumbledore is here. I defeated Voldemort as a baby, and he is sure to want his revenge, and I too, am here. Also, the children of many of his enemies are here, making it an even tastier target." There were nods of agreement.

"But, frankly, this war will be on a country-wide if not world-wide scale. There is not enough man-power to defend every place, and there will not be time enough to call aurors in to defend Hogwarts," Harry continued, "we need an army who can hold back the Death Eaters until the aurors and other fighters can arrive. An army who is here all the time."

"But the only people here are the teachers and students," Joseph Elspeth, a sixth year Hufflepuff pointed out. Harry nodded grimly,

"we need an army of students and teachers. Unfortunately, many of the teachers are otherwise occupied, and cannot be counted on to be here, as well as the fact that there are simply not enough of them. Voldemort's forces will be here by the hundreds."

"Then it's down to the students," Dean said grimly, picking up on what he was saying. Harry nodded slowly,

"I would rather it wasn't, but it is. And you lot are the best in the school, and so I'm asking if you'd be willing to create an army?" he scanned them, "if not, that's okay, you'll have your memory wiped and go to join the other advanced group. If you are, you'll sign a secrecy pact and we'll start training." Two Ravenclaw fifth years stood up,

"we can't, it's too dangerous." Harry nodded calmly,

"very well. Obliviate!" he muttered. Their memories were promptly wiped as he reinstated a memory of them sitting down, and then deciding to join the other group.

After they'd left, he turned to the rest and produced a sheet of parchment.

"This parchment is charmed with a spell that's slightly more advanced then the one Hermione used last year," he informed them, "upon your signature, a spell will prevent you from saying anything about what we discuss in here in front of anyone except someone bearing our mark."

"Mark?" Angela Chen, a seventh year Ravenclaw, looked at him curiously, "what sort of mark?"

"Not like a Dark Mark," Harry assured him quickly, "a necklace bearing a crest that will change according to when our meetings are set." Angela nodded, and Harry passed the parchment around.

Once it was signed, Harry leaned forward,

"Now that that's signed, there's something I need to tell you," he took a deep breath, "about me."

"You know I'm not normal," he said slowly, "but I don't think you know just how different I am. I'm not even a wizard, I'm one of the Valeru."

"Valeru?"

"Yes, I have powers different to that of a wizard. I can do normal magic," he assured them, "but I also have other abilities, such as wandless magic, I'm empathic, I'm a fire elemental and I can speak most languages as long I've heard it at least once." They all gaped at him.

"What the hell?" Seamus cried.

"That's impossible," Terry Boot declared. Harry shook his head,

"Watch." He held out his hand, and a spinning ball of flame appeared, summoning more gasps.

"I discovered my powers on my birthday and I've spent the summer being trained in my abilities without Dumbledore knowing," he explained, "and I've mastered them."

"To fight in this battle against Voldemort, we're going to need as much training as possible," he continued, "you'll need to improve your magical dueling skills, learn physical combat and learn strategy at the very least."

"Why physical combat?" a fifth year Gryffindor, John Tankston, demanded, "we're wizards!"

"Magic relies on physical strength as well. You'll be magically stronger if you're physically stronger. Also, what if you lose your wand? Then you'd be left without a defense, at least this way you'll have a way of defending yourself," Harry explained calmly. He spotted Carmen, Hermione and Ron slide into the room and then come to stand with him.

"First, you guys need your crests," he drew a bag from his pocket, "you should wear them at all times."

"Why a necklace?" Dean asked, "we're boys!"

"I thought of rings, but they're not big enough, same with pins. The only other option would be a bracelet, but I thought you'd prefer this," Harry shrugged, holding out an example.

It was a delicate black metal choker with a black disk suspended in the front, with the image of a red dragon on it.

"We'll have a council, made up of a Leader, a battle division commander, a spy commander, a research commander and a healing commander," Harry told them, "and we're all divided into battle, spy or research. Research and spy are also under healing." There were nods.

"I'm thinking of getting some people from outside school for research, as they'll have more access," Ron added, "to certain things."

"We'll see what your strengths are and then decide," Harry continued, "I've already decided some basic parts of the council. I'm the Leader, and Carmen will be my deputy, because she's a Valeru as well." Earlier that day, Harry had finally explained to Ron and Hermione what they were, as Hermione had caught them with their essays for the university.

"For the battle commander, I'd like Ron, because he's good with tactics and strategy," Harry continued, pausing for acceptance from the rest of the group, "but I don't know about Spy, Research or Healing."

"My brothers can handle research," Ron suggested, "they're pretty good with things like that, especially with their joke shop now. And they can get outside people who don't need to know what it's for."

"I have friends in Slytherin," a Gryffindor seventh year, Nicole Renner, spoke up, "I can pull some strings and see if there's anyone willing to play spy." Harry nodded,

"you do that. I'll keep a look out for some people who might be sympathetic to our cause and are good at healing."

He passed out the necklaces, which were slid under clothes.

"They're all charmed for invisibility," he told them, "but we can always see each others. They will heat when I change mine, and change to reflect that. The ones for the Leaders have three small rubies above them, so we can tell each other apart."

"How soon you can you find spies, Nicole?"

"By Friday," she said confidently, "I'll have a few names. And there's a few Slytherins who are brilliant duelists, and are firmly on the side of the light." Harry nodded,

"get them to come."

"When's our next meeting?" Carmen asked.

"How about this Saturday?" Harry suggested, "at seven o'clock." They nodded, and Harry tapped his necklace, changing the date inscribed upon the back.

"We'll leave now," Harry said, "because it's almost curfew, but I'd like Nicole to stay behind for a moment."

When the room was emptied, Nicole approached. She was the head girl this year, opposite the Hufflepuff head-boy who hadn't joined. She had very pale skin and long black hair that was braided and then wrapped into a bun at the back. She had the sort of beauty that would make most straight men stop and stare, and some gays as well.

**What do you bet she uses her looks to her advantage?** Carmen commented slyly.

**No, duh,** Harry returned.

"How are you planning to get spies?" Ron wanted to know. Nicole smirked,

"I have contacts in the different houses," she explained, "I was going to pass on information anonymously, but this makes it easier."

"You're a Gryffindor? With friends in Slytherin?" Ron exclaimed. Nicole regarded him,

"I may be a Gryffindor, but I'm not prejudiced. My two best friends are in Slytherin," she answered icily, "and I can be as Slytherin as you can get when I need to and want to be."

"You mentioned you might be able to convince some Slytherin friends to join us?" Carmen asked.

"I can try," Nicole nodded, "I've got a few friends who might join, but most of those may be interested would prefer to remain anonymous to the majority of the DA." Carmen nodded,

"that would be sensible. Can you give us a list of names for spies by next meeting?"

"No names. I think most would like for just me to know who they are, it's safer that way," Nicole answered. Harry nodded firmly,

"just come up with a figure," he decided. Nicole nodded,

"sure. I'll talk with my friends tonight."

"Can I come with you?" Carmen requested, "I'd like to meet these people." She hesitated for a moment, and then nodded,

"but just you to start with."

"Let's go, then," the two girls moved towards the door, and Harry linked his mind with Carmen's.

"So, why are you friends with Slytherins?" Carmen asked, "most Gryffindors hate them." Nicole shrugged,

"I met Chantal Doran and Samara Wales when I was six," she explained, "we've been friends ever since."

"Doran? Wales?" Carmen mused, "I've heard those names before."

"Probably," Nicole agreed, "they're both purebloods." Carmen nodded, and then watched as they arrived outside the portrait leading into the Slytherin dorms. The portrait took one look at Nicole, sighed and swung open,

"you're in here far too often for your own good."

"I'm sure I am, but then, I'm the one who has to deal with it, not you," Nicole retorted. She led Carmen into the Slytherin common room, and the entire room turned to look at them.

"Where's Draco?" she asked, "Chantal? Samara?"

"In their rooms," a boy called, "what you doing with the Gryff, Nicole?"

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a Gryffindor too," Nicole smirked, "and she's under my protection. She's Carmen Cortez." There were a few mutters, before a seventh year girl got up and held out her hand,

"Hi, I'm Joanna Alsmeth."

"Carmen Cortez," Carmen accepted her hand, "how come you guys let Gryffindors in here?"

"We don't, we normally hex them. But don't worry, you're safe in here since Nicole's taken you under her wing," Joanna assured her, smirking.

"You have that much power?" Carmen stared in disbelief at the Slytherin. Since when did Gryffindors have power over the Slytherins.

"When you're best friends with Chantal Doran and Samara Wales, of course you do," an approaching girl remarked, "good evening."

"Cortez," Carmen answered, "Carmen Cortez." Another girl sauntered over, nodding briefly to Nicole, whom Carmen supposed was Chantal Doran.

"Ah, yes, you're Potter's girlfriend," Samara nodded, "why are you _here_?"

"We need to talk to you two," Nicole interrupted, "in private, preferably." She glanced at Chantal meaningfully. Chantal sighed,

"We'll talk in my room," Chantal led the way through the packed room.

Once inside, Chantal gestured to a number of armchairs by the fire,

"What is it?" she demanded, almost icily.

"Chantal, that's not nice," Nicole retorted. Chantal smirked,

"that's why you love me." Nicole grinned, and then sobered.

"You know I joined the DA, darling?" Nicole began. Samara nodded warily,

"hm."

"They're looking for spies," Nicole continued, and Samara's eyes narrowed.

"And what does that have to do with us?" she sneered.

**Pureblood Slytherin bitches,** Harry complained.

**An understatement,** Carmen remarked dryly.

"I was thinking you could inquire around to see if you could find some spies," Nicole replied calmly, "with your contacts?"

"What contacts?" Carmen asked.

"Yes," Chantal echoed, "what contacts?" Nicole's eyes narrowed and a scowl appeared.

"We can't help you," Samara sneered again. Nicole's forehead smoothed out,

"that's okay, guys, thanks anyway," she seemed overly bright for someone who had just been told her friends refused to help, "we'll just be leaving then."

Five minutes later, Nicole was smirking as they returned to Gryffindor Tower.

"What are you so pleased about?" Carmen demanded in exasperation.

"They just agreed to help us," she informed her. Carmen blinked,

**Did I miss something?**

**Not as far as I could see,** Harry replied.

"Do you mind running that pass me again?" Carmen requested.

"Samara signaled me that they'd look around," Nicole shrugged, "they're Slytherins, they don't give you straight out answers."

"Oh," Carmen was deep in thought for the rest of the way back.

A/N: Chapter 12 finished, with the start of the DA and Quidditch.

E/N: Told you that this would be updated faster then the last one. Thanks to me and the fact that I never let her alone, lol. Anyway, as soon as we know what's going to happen, Chapter 13 will be up.


	13. Chapter 13 The HQ

**Chapter 13 – The HQ**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past, and if so, I apologize.

RiverSongDreamShadow: Sandrilene and Briar come from reading the Circle Opens too many times in one day, but no, they are no relation. I just happen to like the names.

Terris1: I didn't notice that, where was it again?

Lilian Marie Potter: how long did that take you to do? Was quite amusing to see that as soon as I opened up the review sheet. LOL

Aishwarya: Well, they would initially, but they'd get over it pretty quickly. Ron's enough of a strategist to see why he did, and Hermione's smart enough to figure it out. This _is_ fanfiction, and all characters will, by necessity, be slightly OOC.

Lady of Masbolle: Spell-crafting, he's not really going to be focusing on that, but I might be able to work something in. At any rate it's not going to be a major part of the story, I think. I liked Nicole too; she'll be featuring quite a bit in here.

Thanks to Chavia, Sirius009, pinaygrk3123, flashfirephoenix, HecateDeMort, x-revolution, starryone21, darkepyon, gina87, Evergreen Sceptre, Tmctflyboy and Aria-Chan

**Telepathic speech**

_Beast speech_

Chapter 13

Harry appeared in the front of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. Carmen was covering for him back at Hogwarts while he spoke with Fred and George.

"Fred? George?" he called. The twins hurried out to meet him.

"Harry! How wonderful…" Fred began.

"To see you, old boy," and George continued,

"But what are you doing here?" they both finished.

"I'm here to speak with you, privately," Harry answered, "I sneaked out of class."

He was ushered into a small room, and Fred sealed it magically,

"Shoot."

"You remember the DA?" Harry began. The twins nodded.

"I'm continuing it, but I'm turning a part of it into a fighting force," Harry explained quickly, "so that Hogwarts has some sort of defense. Problem is…I don't want Dumbledore to know about it." George grinned,

"Sneaky!"

"Of course," Harry smirked, "and I wanted to know if you two would be willing to do some research for us? Develop new weapons and stuff?" Fred looked thoughtful as George grinned.

"I'm sure we can find some very interesting things for the Death Eaters to encounter," Fred mused.

"And we're part of the Order, I'm sure you'll want us to poke around and see what we can find?" George added, mischievously. Harry grinned,

"Perfect! I'll arrange with Gringotts to fund you with whatever you need." Fred shook his head,

"No need. The joke-shop's doing really well, we can do it by ourselves, especially since you funded this shop too," he argued. Harry opened his mouth to refuse, but George jumped in,

"But if we need help, we'll come look for you." Harry nodded reluctantly.

"We'll keep you posted, but you'd better get back to school."

"Order!" Harry called, as the group of over thirty students milled around the advanced room. A number of Slytherins from various years had joined them, and Harry had already tested them before the meeting. They had a total of forty-three student members, including themselves.

"I have some news for you," he declared when all had quieted down, "first, that we have managed to secure some inside spies in Voldemort's armies, but they wish to remain anonymous." He paused for cheering to quiet.

"Second, we have found some people to do research for us," he added, "they are all graduates, so they won't be attending our meetings. Fred and George Weasley are sharing positions as our Research Commanders, and are spies inside the Order of the Phoenix. "

"And we have decided upon another post in the Council, Nicole Renner, as the Spy Commander," Harry continued, "we are still looking for someone to be the Healing Commander."

"But we're going to start with team building stuff, because we have to learn to work together, regardless of friendships, houses etc." Harry informed them, "once we've figured out each other's strengths and weaknesses, you'll be divided into battle groups, but that'll take a few weeks."

"I don't care if you hate the guts of everyone else in the DA, you will work together and trust them. I'm not asking you to become best buddies, but you must trust each other," Harry explained, "we'll be playing a muggle game called Trust. You will blindfold someone and then stand in a circle around them, pushing them gently between you. The blindfolded person can't move their feet from the middle, and needs to trust the people in their group. You must catch them or they'll injure themselves. Any questions?"

"Yes," Seamus called out, "how long are these meetings?"

"Our meetings will be between two and two and half hours long, and we'll meet as often as possible," Harry answered, "so we'll be more prepared. Now, I'll split you into smaller groups for this."

Once they'd started, Harry wandered among the group, watching as it was done. Lots of laughter soon filled the air, as very few people managed to trust their group enough and most were soon stumbling around. At eight-thirty, Carmen, Ron and Hermione slipped in to join them. They'd dismissed their groups already, and were coming to help him out. They were not part of a battle group; they'd make their own with just four. While they'd help the others out in battle, their main target would be Voldemort or other high-ranking Death Eaters.

"All right, that's enough," Harry called a halt to the game. By the end of it, people were only just starting to trust their groups. At some point he'd have to find a way to force them to bond and co-operate.

"We'll move onto actual dueling now," Harry informed them, "you all have a reasonable range of spells, reasonable accuracy and power otherwise you wouldn't be here. But we'll start simply, on improving our aim. You're going to go in your battle groups, and you'll have to work together to defeat and destroy the attacking targets." Blank looks met his statement. He sighed,

"In the middle please," he requested, gesturing to one of the groups. The eight students moved into the centre, and Harry snapped his fingers. About twenty metal orbs that shot bright red light appeared, hovering around them.

"You have to disarm and disable every one of these things," Carmen explained.

"Activate," Harry said sharply. The orbs started moving, randomly firing.

Harry shook his head in resignation as they did not work together, and were quickly chopped down. It took barely five minutes for them all to fall.

"Learn to work together," Harry snapped as soon as he awoke them all. He gestured for the next group to go in, and they started off again.

This group was slightly better, working more together. But that could have been because they'd seen what happened when they didn't, or because Chantal Doran was in control, and she seemed to be able to keep them all in line. Harry noticed that the Slytherins were always the last to fall, being better at working together in all the groups, especially where it was one of the Slytherins leading.

Once all the groups had gone, he stepped up,

"Horrible," he said flatly, "you barely worked as a group. You have to work as a single cohesive unit. Watch." He motioned for Carmen to join him in the middle.

"Activate!" Instantly, they moved back to back. Harry erected a shield spell around the two of them, and Carmen hexed the first one down. Moving quickly, they picked their targets and got one each time. They'd worked together like this many times, and knew how to work with one another, even without their telepathic bond and their other abilities.

Soon all of the orbs lay on the ground, inactive.

"We've worked together for a long time, true," Harry acknowledged to the stunned audience, "but that's what you're aiming for. That sort of partnership levels."

"We've run out of time," Hermione continued, "so we'll leave it there for now. Our next meeting will be Tuesday? If that suits everyone?" After a round of nods, Harry spoke again,

"Between then and now, if you have the time, could you see if you can practice some shielding charms?" he suggested, as they were leaving.

His attention was caught by Nicole and the two Slytherins, who were speaking quietly in the corner. Without him consciously deciding to, he drifted slowly closer, just enough to hear what they were saying.

"Why were you being so harsh on Carmen last night?" Nicole was demanding.

"You know what it's like for us," Chantal sighed, "you know who my parents are, and I've never been all that trusting. It comes from having parents like mine and being what I am."

"Yes, but still…"

"We can't risk being overheard by others being nice to her," Samara answered, "we'll be dead the moment it reaches our parents. Not to mention she's hiding something, it's obvious."

"We all have our secrets," Nicole argued softly, "we know that…" The trio was out of listening range, and Harry couldn't listen anymore. More confused now then ever, Harry returned to his girlfriend and friends.

Harry sat in the common room, writing his most recent essay for Valatros University. He recalled what had led up to his friends discovering what was happening with him.

Harry and Carmen had been writing essays for their degrees, both on subjects that they technically shouldn't have known about at this stage in their education. Hermione and Ron had come over, and he hadn't been discreet enough to charm his work. Hermione had noticed, and immediately confronted him about it.

FLASHBACK

"What are you trying to hide from us, Harry?" she looked at him sternly. Harry's thoughts raced as he tried to stall for time,

"Nothing. What are you guys doing?" But Hermione had seen straight through it,

"Don't do that, Mr. Potter. What were you hiding?"

"Nothing, I said," Harry repeated. Hermione flicked her wand,

"Finite Incantantem." Harry had watched in horror as the illusion peeled back on it, revealing the work below. He sat, frozen, as Hermione picked up the essay.

**Oh dear, looks like we've been found out,** Carmen murmured, as she discreetly cast a wandless privacy spell around them.

"Veritiserum, the most potent truth serum currently in existence…used often in Ministry trials…Case 774 of Mrs. Josephine Landall…Case 1231 of Mr. Jacob Brown…Case 2254 of Ms. Anna Anguifer…requires Jobberknoll feathers…stir four times in clockwise direction…Harry, how do you know all this?" she demanded, shocked.

"I researched it," Harry answered.

"Harry, you haven't been near the library in the last few days," Hermione pointed out, "and we haven't received this essay from anyone. It's a paper for a Potions or Defense Specialist in a university." Harry blinked at her.

"How do you know all that?" Ron demanded. Hermione brushed the question aside,

"I've studied the papers. Now, why are you writing it?"

"Why? Because I'm studying for a degree from Valatros University," Harry drawled sarcastically. And it was half effective; Ron burst into laughter instantly. But Hermione looked pensieve, as though she were taking him seriously.

"All right, games up, Harry," she said, "explain everything."

"It's a long story, Hermione," Harry told her, exchanging a resigned look with Carmen.

"We have time, now explain," she ordered, seating herself comfortably. Sighing, they began.

END OF FLASHBACK

It had taken them nearly four hours to explain what had been going on, starting with Harry's new powers and finishing up with the university degrees, because Ron and Hermione had kept interrupting with questions and laughter. They'd left out some more sensitive information, like the fact that the BSS was a school, making it sound as though they'd been taken away by someone. They also kept it a secret that Gregorio and Ingrid were the ones who had taken him.

Late that night, he was with Carmen in Ingrid and Gregorio's rooms. Ron and Hermione already asleep, as it was past curfew. Harry and Carmen were supposed to be practicing, but had ended up talking in the teachers' rooms.

"I'm thinking we need a bigger space for the DA," Carmen commented, "there's only so much that the Room of Requirement can do."

"But where to go?" Harry asked, "where could we go where Dumbledore wouldn't be able to find out what we're doing?"

"The Phoenix Chambers," Ingrid replied, "it's warded well, and there are ways to hoodwink even Dumbledore."

"You're suggesting I take students, including Slytherins, into Godric Gryffindor's personal room?" Harry exclaimed. Ingrid shrugged,

"Why not? You could even use Rowena's library, and the Chamber of Secrets," she suggested, "re-open the internal floo-link between them, and you've got a perfect training grounds." Harry stared into the fire, thinking.

"And what about Dumbledore? What if he comes looking for us?" he inquired after a moment.

"A few minor spells would lock the Room of Requirement, and alert you when he approaches it," Gregorio suggested, "you could turn it into your headquarters."

"We'd need things like a dueling room, a hospital wing and an armory," Harry argued, "which we don't have."

"Convert the Chamber of Secrets into a dueling room, it's certainly big enough, and it's enough of a warren so that you can have mock battles in there," Gregorio explained, "with a small armory perhaps. You could create magical walls in the Phoenix Chamber and convert it into a hospital wing and headquarters?"

"Gryffindor Cottage?" Carmen suggested. Gregorio shook his heads,

"The private apartments of the Founders will open only to the four heirs," he reminded her, "unless you want crisped students."

"We've got until Tuesday, which is two full days, to alter the rooms," Ingrid added, "so it won't be too much of a rush. We could head down there now?"

"All right," Harry relented, it would make everything a lot easier.

The three of them reached out and jerked slightly on Ingrid's powers, and then they all vanished, to reappear in the Chamber of Secrets. A stinking smell filled the still air, and they all coughed.

"What is that?" Carmen choked out.

"The Baslisk," Harry gasped. Gregorio shook his head at them, and flicked his hand. Oxygen bubbles appeared around their heads, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"I would have expected you to think about that," Ingrid chided. Harry grinned,

"well, I didn't. Now, let's go see this rotting carcass."

The enormous baslisk was lying just as it had been when he left it four years previously, in a pool of blood, water and ink.

"Gather the teeth and skin to use for ingredients," Carmen suggested. Harry flicked his wrist, neatly jerking the fangs from the mouth and placing them in conjured jars. Another swish and flick stripped the hide off, and rolled it into a ball that was placed in his pocket. Ingrid teleported the rest of the carcass back to the BSS, where the next person to come along would get a nasty shock. They would then, once recovered, dispose of it as necessary.

Harry flicked his wrist to remove the smell now that it would not be constantly be replaced, and then Gregorio dissolved the oxygen bubble.

"This is going to take a lot of work," Carmen remarked, staring around.

"You can say that again," Ingrid agreed.

"Lets get started then," Harry said, almost cheerfully, as he focused on the water and Vanished it. Only to find it replaced almost at once as new water gushed in.

"Oh dear," Ingrid looked down at her soaked feet, "I think we need to find the cracks first."

"Duh," Carmen retorted.

Once they'd found and sealed every tiny crack in the walls, Harry once again Vanished a patch of water, and smirked in satisfaction. Meanwhile, Carmen was working on getting rid of the blood and ink that puddle around, and Ingrid and Gregorio were doing major house-cleaning on the walls and floor.

Almost four hours later, long past curfew, they were finished with the Chamber. Spotless white walls were gleaming brightly, the polished marble floor was shining and they had added a few extra touches, like a slightly dipped floor in the centre of the main Chamber and a statue of each of the founders. Without those additional touches, it had been a very bare and depressing place.

"Shall we see if we can open the Floo-paths?" Ingrid suggested, "since they are only open from Gryffindor cottage to the Phoenix Chamber at the moment?" The four of them headed over to a marble fireplace that was crackling merrily with green and silver flames. They knew how to open the paths, but doing it was another matter entirely. Harry and Carmen teleported themselves into the Phoenix Chamber to kneel in front of the fireplace there. Gritting his teeth from the heat, he held his hands close to the flickering flames. He needed to be here as the Gryffindor heir, and Gregorio was the Slytherin heir in the Chamber.

**From hearth to hearth,** Gregorio recited mentally, echoing his spoken words.

**From home to home,** Harry joined in, continuing the ritual. He moved his hands till they were hovering just above the flames, and he felt magical power begin to be drawn out through them.

**We call upon the power of the flames, **Gregorio declared.

**To connect these fireplaces,** Harry added. Gritting his teeth, he pushed his hands down till they rested within the very tips of the flames, silently thanking the gods that he could not be harmed by fire, as more power streamed away.

**And allow all those who are in need.**

**To pass between unhindered,** Harry slid his hands lower, and further into the flames.

**To remain unharmed as they pass through the fire.**

**And appear at their spoken destination,** again Harry's hands drew nearer to the centre of the flames, as power poured from him.

**Thus we call upon these places of power and fire.**

**And give them our thanks,** Harry's hands were now in the heart of the flames, and strength was flowing from him in a steadily increasing floor.

**So Mote It Be!** They both spoke, and the last of the necessary strength was drained away.

Harry collapsed as the spell ended, his magical reserves depleted severely. He was vaguely aware of Carmen grasping his hands, and then felt magic stream into him, replenishing his strength. He felt Ingrid doing the same with Gregorio below the school, replenishing the energy that they had lost.

**Let's do some alterations in here, and then save the rest for tomorrow?** Carmen suggested. A moment later, the two adults stepped through the flames.

"You two sit down," Ingrid instructed Gregorio and Harry, "we'll handle the few alterations." Wearily, Harry sank to the ground to watch as the two females hurried around.

The first things that happened was that Carmen conjured more armchairs, and arranged them around the room in various positions, to be a bit more cozy. Meanwhile, Ingrid was staring at a wall, muttering under her breath and doing something with her hands. Harry watched curiously as he tried to hear what she was saying. She seemed to be making up her own spell, because the way she was weaving with her magic was different to normal.

After a few minutes, an arch was slowly appearing, traced in glittering gold lines. Harry scrutinized it from the distance carefully, wondering what she was doing. It soon became apparent as the stone began to vanish, leaving a perfect arch to another room. She conjured a door and hung it in the arch. Curious now, Harry got up and walked over.

"Where'd that come from?" he wanted to know, peering through the archway at the medium-sized room.

"It's always been there," Ingrid shrugged, "I just opened by the archway. I think it was a storage room at some point, because there used to be an entrance here. I just recreated the arch."

She flicked her wrists, conjuring a dozen hospital beds with curtains hanging around them. Then she added a series of shelves around the perimeter. Harry perked up as an idea struck him,

"you know those spells for the bottomless bags?" he started, "we could use them on these rooms, and create room for storage, wardrobes etc." Ingrid nodded,

"good idea." Another series of spells enlarged the room to almost twice the size, and walled off a substantial area, which was then lined with shelves.

"So that's a Hospital Wing taken care of, and a Dueling Room," she mused, "and the main HQ rooms. Still need to sort out the library and the armory."

"We can do that tomorrow though," Gregorio said firmly, "these two need some dueling practice time, and some sleep."

Harry flicked his wrist, sending the silver case spinning onto the floor, as it leaped up to reveal the rooms. He stepped forward, and vanished into the Training Grounds.

A/N: Completed, here's the thirteenth chapter, I hope you like it.

E/N: This didn't take all _that _long to write but I think that it's great again. So, what do you think? Not bad huh?


	14. Chapter 14 The Azkaban Escape

**Chapter 14 – Azkaban Escape**

**Harry Potter and the Valeru**

**By Lady Urquentha**

**PG – 13**

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past, and if so, I apologize.

Dardiania: I tried, but won't let me.

Evergreen Sceptre: Well, it's not that he isn't happy, it's just he's losing a private space, and altering things. He's not too keen, being big on the privacy thing and safety, but he's okay with it. Ingrid has different talents, they all do, and she's older, wiser etc. She's read more about Hogwarts, and is more perceptive about things. He's still young, even if he is in his twenties now, and so hasn't learnt that yet. If you noticed, someone else in the quartet is related to Ravenclaw, so he gets in through that. And the library is no problem, anyone can enter it once it's connected to the Floo network, and if they have the passwords. Only the Ravenclaw apartments/house is restricted to the Founders Heirs. And of course there are secrets in Hogwarts he doesn't know about, whether he'll find out about them or not is a different matter. Depends if I can slip them in somewhere.

David M. Potter: Personally, I don't think I'd like my private life documented, so I'd rather not go into theirs. And they _have_ kissed more then twice, I just haven't told you that. But seriously, I don't want to have to bump the rating up any further then it is, so I won't had in anything more serious then the occasional kiss. Besides, I'm absolutely _horrible_ at romance scenes and all that. I love to read 'em, but writing them is horrible for me. If one of them ever turns up in here, it'll probably be courtesy of my editor.

Lady of Masbolle: Spell-crafting won't be a main point because I don't feel like coming up with intricate runes and theories for it, and because it doesn't really fit into his style. There will be slight touches on it, but only a few. The deletion policy…where do I go for that?

Anonymous A-man: I know it's been a while, but I've had longer gaps between updates. Anyway, it's not like this is the only project I have going, so it will naturally take longer. And in my bio, I have warned people that updates will be irregular and erratic.

Thank you to Blue walker, HecateDeMorte, APS, Tmctflyboy, Lunatic Pandora1, and Shdurrani for reviewing

**Telepathic speech**

_Beast speech_

Chapter 14

When Harry woke up a few weeks later, the first thing he thought about was his head. It was spinning and he did not feel right. Without a conscious thought, he summoned a bottle of nausea medicine, and downed it. After a moment of disorientation, his head and stomach settled, and he was able to get up.

Harry was sitting in the middle of Transfiguration later that day, half-listening to McGonagall droning on about the dangers of human transfiguration, and half-thinking up plans for the DA. They were already four weeks into school, and had had twelve meetings already. They'd fixed meeting dates for Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays, the only days when they were all free. They'd changed their name to the Dragon Order, to match the dragon image on their chokers. He'd actually got the chokers from the BSS, and they'd been charmed for invisibility and to act as emergency portkeys back to their new Hospital Wing.

He had already introduced them to their new HQ, and had been gratified when they had all instantly loved it. Well, most of them had, he wasn't quite sure what the Slytherins had thought. They hadn't really said anything or shown any emotions, and he didn't dare let down his empathy shields at school. But he was starting to get used to the Slytherin's don't-care attitude.

FLASH-BACK

"So, guys, this is our new head quarters," Harry gestured broadly after they'd all tumbled out of the fireplace. He grinned as they stared around them in amazement. He exchanged a warm look with Carmen over their heads.

"Wow!" Peter McGuileson, a Ravenclaw sixth year, exclaimed, "this is amazing!"

"Where are we?" Elina Rekila, a fifth year Hufflepuff, asked. Harry glanced at the Slytherins standing off to one side, all looked almost bored. Harry had an almost overwhelming urge to probe their minds to see what their real opinions were.

"The Dragon Order Headquarters," Harry answered, walking out towards the centre of the room, "or as it once was, the Founders' Rooms."

"Founders?"

"Yes. The Founders built these for when they wanted privacy, and each designed one room, although they could and did all access each others," Carmen explained.

"This room in particular was the Phoenix Chamber of Godric Gryffindor, our new main Headquarters," Harry added, "follow me, please."

"Over here we have a small Hospital Wing, where we have some hospital beds, potions etc." Carmen gestured to the arch, "you can come here for healing for any reason, no matter how you got hurt. It's a good idea to come here if you don't want Madame Pomfrey to know you were injured. It too is directly connected to the Hogwarts Floo Network. Harry's and my necklaces are connected to this room, and if you enter it when you are needing medical assistance, we will know and come to help you. When we pick a Healing Commander, their necklaces will also be connected to this room."

"Connected through the fireplaces we also have a Dueling Chamber, a Library, a Greenhouse and a Potions Room," Harry continued, "the Dueling Chamber is situated in the Chamber of Secrets, which was Salazar Slytherin's private room. It's original purpose was for brewing potions that were considered too fragile to be done in the school. It is a maze that will be used for training exercises and mock battles, as well as dummies and magical aids for training. The Library was Rowena Ravenclaw's library, and it has many rare and ancient books. We ask only that you take a maximum of four books out at a time, and be warned that the room automatically records who takes the books out. The Greenhouse was Helga Hufflepuff's, and it contains many plants, flowers etc. All of these are for use in potions only, although there is a section for vegetables, which will be used only if we get trapped in here for some reason or are forced to hide out in here. The Potions room is a deserted Potions classroom in the dungeons, on the lowest level. The lowest four or five levels of the school are unused because they are unneeded, so we have separated off a number of them and joined them into a single room for brewing potions."

"Our final aspect is a group of dormitories," Carmen added, "also located in the dungeons. They're very similar to our normal dorms, and will be used if we are forced to retreat into here, or if you simply want to lie low. They're also here in case you need somewhere safe to stay over the holidays."

"Now, to get to each of the rooms, there are specific names and passwords. Each is accessible only by Floo from inside Hogwarts itself, except for the Hospital Wing and Headquarters," Harry explained, "the Headquarters itself is it's original name 'Phoenix Chambers'."

"Why didn't we need to say that to get in here?" Daniel Contal, another sixth year Ravenclaw, asked.

"We kept it open, once I was through, and then Carmen shut it on her way through," Harry explained, "but from now on, you'll need to throw the powder in and call 'Phoenix Chambers'. There is also a password that you will have to say once you're moving, as extra safety precaution. After you start to spin, quickly say…"

"The moment I follow Voldemort is the moment I start a relationship with him," Carmen was grinning. The entire group burst into laughter. They'd gotten used to hearing and saying his name, so that wasn't a problem. But the mere idea of starting a relationship with him was lucridious.

"It's the same password for every chamber," Harry continued once the laughter had died down, "but the Dueling Chamber's floo name is 'Chamber', so as not to attract the attention it would if it were it's real name. The Hospital Wing is 'Medical Centre', the library is 'Raven Library', the Greenhouse is 'Forest Green', the Potions room is 'Brewery' and the dorms are 'home'."

"Hang on, what if we can't make it to the hospital wing?" someone asked.

"Your necklaces are programmed to transport you instantly into the hospital wing if you tap it five times in quick succession, or if you fall unconscious," Carmen explained.

"Why 'Brewery'?" Susan Bones asked.

"A Brewery is a place where muggles make beer and wine. So, we're using it for Potions. It'll throw people off our tracks hopefully," Harry smirked.

"Why don't you go explore?" Carmen suggested, "see what's around?"

FLASH-BACK

They'd done plenty of team-building work, and people were quite friendly and trusting now, although the Slytherins were still a bit stand-offish. They'd done some basic dueling, and Harry had led them through a bit of dueling, healing, the martial arts, fencing, dagger combat, dagger throwing and archery. He'd soon located whose advantages lay where, and was now trying to mentally sort them into battle groups. He'd discovered eight people who were good at healing, and who would be healers during battles but who would also train to be reserves who could be switched in and out of other groups as necessary. There were, excluding his friends, forty more students, as numerous others had caught up to their level and been brought in over the past few weeks. Three of them; Nicole Renner, Chantal Doran and Samara Wales were posing a problem for him. They had unnatural abilities, things that they shouldn't have had, and he wasn't sure what to make of it. It was quite clear that they were powerful magically and physically, but he wasn't quite sure of what to do with them. Nicole was an expert at physical combat more then anything, and seemed to be able to hear things before the rest of them. She was, she claimed, part high-elf. Apparently one of her great-grandmothers was an elf, and she had inherited that. He wasn't sure what Chantal was, except that she wasn't fully human. She too had perceptive senses and almost un-natural strength, speed and endurance, and was thus very physical. Samara, on the other hand, was gifted magically. She was at a very high level of magic, and seemed to have this weird ability to blend into the shadows naturally. He'd just decided that they'd have to stay separate, because they'd be more useful there, when it hit him.

The first thing he'd known about it was a sharp pain in his elbow as he slid from the chair, and then he was in dream-land.

VISION

The first thing Harry noticed was that he wasn't in Voldemort's head anymore, he was floating as if an omnipotent presence. The second was that he hadn't had a vision for the past few years, to him at any rate.

He was above a prison building, Azkaban prison at that. And the death eaters were storming it. He floated helplessly above the island, watching as death eaters apparated onto the island and took down the few auror guards. He looked away from the dying throes of the aurors, even after all these years he couldn't stomach watching an innocent die. Then again, that was one of things that Carmen assured him made him human, and not like Voldemort. Harry had to agree, and wonder just how Snape managed to stand looking at himself in the mirror when he stood by and let it happen, without trying to prevent it.

It didn't take very long for the death eaters to over run the place, and Harry shuddered as he watched the prisoners inside be brought out. Or, the ones who had served Voldemort at any rate. Those who had not, well, he'd seen flashes of green inside the building and could guess what had happened to them.

And the Dementors…the guardians of Azkaban were now kneeling at the feet of Voldemort. Obviously they were promising to serve him. Harry's thoughts raced, this was an unexpected turn. Obviously the Dragon Order needed to be taught to cast a corporeal patronus quickly, if they were to have any chance. And come to think of it, teaching them to fight vampires and werewolves wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

A Death Eater came running out of the building to Voldemort, and said something. Harry wasn't sure what, but he did hear the,

"Crucio!" Harry braced himself for the pain, but nothing happened besides a twinge in his scar. Puzzled, he looked down and saw the Death Eater writhing on the ground. It looked even worse then it felt, and he felt his stomach rebelling.

Harry watched wearily, as the Dementors faded away into the mist that was slowly clouding his vision, and he remained in dream-land only long enough to spot Voldemort disaparating, before all went black.

END OF VISION

Harry woke up on the floor of Transfiguration classroom, with McGonagall's head looming above his friends. His first thought was that his headache was back, as it was pounding and aching. His stomach didn't feel quite right either. He smiled weakly,

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Hermione argued, "you just fainted."

"I'm fine, Hermione," Harry insisted, trying to look it.

**Vision?** Carmen asked.

**Yeah,** Harry agreed silently, **Azkaban's been freed. **He looked up at McGonagall,

"I need to speak with the headmaster." Her lips thinned and she nodded,

"Right, Mr. Potter. Read chapter 4 of your book while I escort Mr. Potter to the headmaster's office," she barked. He got to his feet slightly unsteadily; his stomach still roiling and his head feeling like it had just been cracked wide open.

He took two steps, and suddenly felt like he was loosing control of his stomach. His shoulders came up and he started a heave, and then suddenly coolness emanated from his mind. He felt Ingrid's sure touch on his mind, and sent a grateful thank you. It was incredibly draining to do that mentally, especially when she wasn't in the same room.

He took another step, and swayed, the world spinning before his eyes. _That _was something Ingrid could do nothing about. McGonagall tutted, and took his arm to support him,

"to the hospital wing first, I think."

**Talk about embarrassing, **Harry groaned, feeling his cheeks flush.

**Obviously, you're bright red,** Carmen teased. Harry stuck a mental tongue out childishly, before wincing as the pain came back. Ingrid was having problems keeping a firm grip on his mind with all his shields up. And if he let them down, he'd be bombarded with all the charged emotions of teenagers, and would be even worse off.

He staggered down the hall way, completely confused as to what had set of this reaction. Even before he'd learnt Occulmancy, he hadn't reacted like this to the visions. He knew that if McGonagall wasn't holding him up, he wouldn't be upright, let alone walking. His vision was starting to cloud. He swayed into the Hospital Wing, and promptly collapsed on the nearest bed with a groan.

McGonagall looked at him for a moment and then moved out of the door briskly.

"Poppy, Potter's in here again," she called. Harry cringed, making out her tone through the foggy haze that was getting worse by the moment. He was aware of Madame Pomfrey hovering over him and starting to say something, but then he was down for the count.

A/N: I know it's short, like _really_ short, but I thought this was a good place to stop. Next chapter will be up soon (I hope), so don't fret. I hope people caught what that last phrase was, 'down for the count' is a saying meaning asleep or unconscious.

E/N: It's your friendly (or not so friendly, depends on what kind of person you are) editor! So, did you like it? You have to have liked it! Personally I think that McGonagall has a good point. He spends a good amount of time in the hospital wing. Anyway, I will be on her heels till she finishes the next chapter! Review people!


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